War of the Worlds
by MasterShaper
Summary: Digimon x Pokemon crossover. The Digimon Empire decided to conquer Earth. But when the Humans and Pokemon fought back... So began the war of the worlds. AU. COMPLETE.
1. Prologue

Prologue 

A spherical, metallic-looking object about ten inshes in diameter came out of warp-space within a planetary diameter of a planet that was mostly blue, with patches of green and brown. The spherical object rotated slowly, and pointed a knobby protrusion on its surface at the planet.

It then accelerated.

Speeding towards the planet, it agilely dodged numerous satellites that were orbiting the planet. The object recorded the size, shape, and probable function of the satellites, even though it moved past them at speed that was nearly sufficient to bring it back into warp-space. It slowed down upon approach of the planet's atmosphere.

Its programming dictated that the atmosphere of this world was approximately equal in chemical composition when compared with the planet Data, proportion-wise. Previous scout drones had determined the atmosphere to be naturally composed of approximately 79 percent nitrogen, 20 percent oxygen, 0.03 percent carbon dioxide, and 0.07 percent a cocktail of inert gases and halogens. This particular composition was considered to be moderately difficult for most spacecraft that were re-entering the atmosphere.

The drone slowly orbited the planet, running several probability and vector calculations simultaneously, to determine the safest possible re-entry path through the atmosphere. As it orbited perpendicular to the planet's equator, it finally found a patch of atmosphere that was safe (based on its calculations) enough for it to land without overly stressing its structure. The atmospheric safe-spot in question was 2 kilometers ahead, and was not as dangerous due to excessive amounts of hydrocarbons and various other air pollutants that had been released by the humans dwelling on the planet's surface, a dull brown under the location in question.

Reorienting itself on its axis of rotation, the drone was now pointed head-on at the surface of the planet. The safe spot was coming close as it orbited.

One kilometer. Point eight kilometers. Point six kilometers. Point four kilometers. Point two kilometers.

It started atmospheric re-entry. Only giving a short burst of speed by its own power, it plunged into the atmospheric safe spot. A micrometer-thin guiding laser beam lanced out of the drone's knobby protrusion that faced the planetary surface, invisible to the human eye. As its outer hull started to reach dangerous levels of overheating, it recorded the coordinates of the atmospheric safe spot. It noted the presence of a towering, black-colored human edifice on the surface directly below the safe spot. The construction appeared to be a human factory of some kind, but released copious amounts of air pollutants.

Not that it mattered to the drone, which had just breached the atmosphere. It was now free-falling towards the factory, a red-hot mass of overheated metal. Its outer hull had been burnt into a molten slag, but its inner shell and circuitry remained intact. Anti-gravity jets activated, meant to cushion the fall's (highly probable) damaging impact on the drone. The jets failed, at the speed it was crashing at, they fused, the laws of physics being unbreakable.

Twenty seconds to impact. Eighteen seconds to impact. Sixteen seconds to impact. Fourteen seconds to impact. Twelve seconds to impact. Ten seconds to impact.

A particle shield flickered to life, encasing the drone within a sphere of protective vacuum.

Four seconds to impact. Two seconds to impact.

It crashed into the factory's compound, raising a large cloud of dust. It deactivated its particle shield, causing it to fall six inches to the sandy ground. Mini hover jets slid out of tiny hatches all over its spherical body. Rising fifty feet into the air, it sped out of the factory's compound, some sand granules falling in a line behind it.

xxx

Two security guards and their Growlithe partners reached the crash site mere seconds after the drone had left the compound. They approached the hemispherical depression in the ground, curiously but warily.

"Whaddaya think happened here?" the first guard asked his companion.

"Probably just one of those micro-comet thingies those wimpy ass astronomers theorize about," grunted the second guard, "Now we'd better get back to patrolling, or Boss Giovanni'll give us the big B."

Nodding in agreement, the first guard and his Growlithe left the crash site. The second guard eyed the crash depression suspiciously, and then left, Growlithe in tow.

xxx

Two miles away, the flying drone flew into a small town.

Called Pallet Town.


	2. Primary Survey

**Primary Survey**

Pallet Town was normally a quiet town, more so at night, when most of the town's residents were asleep. Usually, the only living things in Pallet Town that stayed up at night were various Pokemon and night shift workers at Professor Oak's lab.

The drone flew soundlessly into Pallet Town, and came to a dead stop. Pointing a sensory apparatus down at the town, at an acute angle from its axis of rotation, it started to slowly spin on its axis. To the drone, the entire town appeared to be green, with splashes of black. Its infrared vision apparatus detected several heat signatures spiking out of a large human building in the center of town.

The drone, finished with filing its initial survey report, flew towards Professor Samuel Oak's laboratory, miniscule ports on its hull opening to reveal many syringe-like appendages. And one hatch opened to reveal a mini laser cutter.

xxx

Kim and Green, Prof. Oak's two night shift lab assistants, were researching the effects of sleeping pills on a Slowpoke, when they heard a soft hissing sound coming from the lab adjacent to the one they were in. The hissing sound was nearly inaudible, but they managed to hear it, having been working the graveyard shift for many years in the lab.

"Kim, did you leave a gas valve open?" asked Green, slightly worried. Had a gas valve been left open, a single spark in the room could blow the entire floor to bits.

"Nope. The only gas I used earlier was carbon dioxide, anyway," replied Kim, putting down the Slowpoke he had been examining, "But I'll go and check, just to make sure things are all righ-"

A loud crash of breaking glass came from the adjacent lab. The two lab assistants then heard a whirring sound, as though some of the lab equipment in the lab had been turned on.

"Burglars!" hissed Kim, snatching up a shotgun from behind a cupboard. He and Green-who was also armed with a shotgun-padded over to the lab. Slowly using the shotgun's barrel to nudge the door (which had been slightly ajar prior to that) open, they prepared to level their shotguns at the intruder... to see that the lab was empty. And that the floor was littered with a mess of broken glass and dead leaves.

Looking at each other in puzzlement, they stepped into the lab. CRUNCH. CRUNCH. Broken glass broke into minute shards as they walked over it with their lab boots. Taking a look at the equipment around them, they saw that nothing was missing.

"You see anything that's been lifted?" asked Green, inspecting the chemical vault, which was locked.

"Nope. But get a load of this," replied Kim, gesturing to the lab's large window. Green walked up to the window, and saw the thing that had puzzled Kim. A perfectly circular hole, which he guessed to be over a foot in diameter, had been cut through the glass. Cold night air blew in through the hole, together with some dead leaves from the trees outside, that scattered all over the lab floor.

Looking at the hole, he noticed that the edges of the hole seemed to have been melted with a hot object. He called Kim over to check out this new mystery.

"Ya see the edge of the hole, this window must've been cut through with a cutting torch," said Green, feeling the edge of the cut. Smooth and rounded, not sharp at all. Definitely done by a cutting torch.

"Yeah, from the look and feel of it, I'd say you're right," said Kim, feeling the cut for himself, "I'd say we wake up old man Oak and- What are you staring at?" Kim had seen Green staring at the doorway, for no apparent reason. Turning to look at the doorway, he saw what had caught Green's eye. A floating, spike-covered spheroid was moving towards them.

Without thinking, he leveled his shotgun at it, and it stopped in midair, two feet from the two of them.

"Whaddaya think this thing is?" asked Kim, as the object slowly revolved on the spot, making whirring noises similar to the ones they had heard earlier.

"I dunno. But let's just shoot the bejesus out of it and then find out what it is," replied Green, getting the spheroid in his sights.

Suddenly, without warning, just as the two lab assistants were about to pull the trigger of their respective shotguns, the drone fired a volley of toxin-filled darts at them. Kim and Green saw the things' spiky protrusions suddenly firing needles at them, and they opened fire.

xxx

The residents of Pallet Town were jolted out of their sleep by several gunshot sounds. They also heard some short, agonized screaming, before the night returned to its normal tranquility.

xxx

In the Oak Laboratory, the drone brought out its laser cutter, as well as several needle-like probes. Moving over to Green's body, it made a long incision on his torso. Then, using four collapsible arms that it had unfolded from its collection of onboard gadgets, it proceeded to prize open Green's torso, inserting its probes into his heart, lungs, kidneys, and one probe was inserted through an eye, into his brain. A scraper appendage scraped off a portion skin from his tongue, which was now an alien blue in color.

The drone then retracted its probes and other equipment, storing them back in their hatches. It then unlocked the encrypted tight-beam signal that was to be sent to the planet Data, to be read by Grand Admiral Datamon. The signal's activation sequence started, the drone's records being sent in a rapid pulse of encrypted data to Data.

Its work done, the drone fell to the floor with a dull THUNK!

xxx

Prof. Oak's other lab assistants, who had been checking his many labs for the source of the gunshots (only Prof. Oak had licensed shotguns in this town), heard it, and hastened to the lab. Before they could enter the lab, a wave of blindingly bright light and heat blasted out of the doorway. As soon as they had recovered from the shell shock, they entered the lab.

Finding nothing but a room that was on fire.

After they had extinguished the fire, Officer Jenny was called in. But no evidence was found. The burnt corpses of Green and Kim were duly buried, and the case was closed. The two men's deaths were filed as a group suicide that resulted in destruction of a laboratory, no questions asked.

xxx

On the planet Data, in a darkened chamber, a computer monitor came to life, displaying a rapidly scrolling list of symbols. A shadowy figure, moderate in height and sporting a shiny glass head, stepped up to the monitor.

The figure had a head that was half a large transparalon bell jar and half a mechanical face that looked like Pablo Picasso had designed it. Four feet stood firmly planted on the floor, connected to the body by steel cable 'legs'. Two long, cable-built 'arms' were connected to three-fingered hands that consisted of manipulatory appendages and friction pads.

Grand Admiral Datamon of His Majesty Lord Apocallymon's army looked at the scrolling symbols with interest. This type of encryption was only used for one type of message. Microprocessors in his computerized brain changed frequencies, altered existing thinking algorithms temporarily, and inversed the mathematical functions that were on screen. Finally, even as the screen was still displaying the encrypted symbols, Datamon had already decrypted the message:

EARTH IS READY FOR HUMAN AND ANIMAL HARVESTATION.

Datamon smiled, his metal teeth glinting wickedly. He had been waiting for this moment for the last 400 years. Now his plan was coming to fruition. As he watched speeded up replays of the drones audio-visual recordings, he marveled at how much humans had advanced in science and technology since he had last sent a drone to Earth, 50 years ago. The recordings came to an abrupt halt as the drone self-destructed - as it had been programmed to do - after it had sent him the important data.

He left his chambers, to report this _marvelous_ stroke of luck to Emperor Apocallymon.

xxx

"We are in a prime position to take Earth," declared Datamon, to the Digimon High Council. Even though he was the second-highest ranking officer (after Emperor Apocallymon himself), he still believed in letting his underlings do some of the thinking, "Are there any volunteers for the first wave? We will be attacking the human colony called 'Kanto', which has been determined to contain all the biological specimens we need. Other than that colony, we'll be destroying all the others."

In front of him were the holographic representations of the High Council's other members.

Admiral Raidenmon (Supreme Commander of all Digimon troops) was in front, with Generals Zanbamon (the Commander of the Musyamon), Fuijinmon (the Digimon of Speed), Suijinmon (the Digimon of Power), Raijinmon (the Digimon of Thunder), and Metalseadramon (Commander of all organisms aquatic) seated behind him. Behind the five generals were the Military Division heads. Marinedevimon the logistics chief, Arukenimon and Mummymon (they were husband and wife), joint Intelligence chiefs cum professional Interrogators, cryptology chief Diaboromon, and the head of Ground-and-Space Warfare (GS-W), Machinedramon. Flanking Machinedramon were his ground, aquatic, and space battle advisors, Colonels Kokatorimon (head of ground assault), Pukumon (head of aquatic assault) and Venomyotismon (head of space combat).

"I volunteer the services of my ground attack troops," screeched Kokatorimon, bowing her gigantic plumage-covered head, "The humans will be destroyed before they know what hit them!"

"_How_ do you plan to achieve this?" asked Zanbamon, who was the most pessimistic (he said he was realistic, not pessimistic) of all the High Council.

"I shall use my Triceramon troops to burn the other colonies. The burning of the unneeded colonies shall be followed by a saturation bombing run by the Megadramon and Gigadramon troops. Once that is done, I shall personally lead a legion of foot soldiers into ground battle with the humans and their pokemons," replied Kokatorimon.

"Very well, colonel. We do not take lightly to failure," rumbled admiral Raidenmon, fixing the mechanical gaze of his one, cyclopean eye upon Kokatorimon, "You know what the price for failure is, yes?"

Raidenmon further emphasized his point by swiveling one of his large cannon appendages to be aimed at Kokatorimon.

"I will win!" said Kokatorimon, who looked slightly shaky after Raidenmon's veiled threat, "By the end of this month, the humans will be ours!"


	3. Operation Armageddon

**Operation Armageddon**

Colonel of Ground Assault Kokatorimon walked briskly towards the main hangar bay. Her two Kiwimon bodyguards tailed her at a distance, rather warily. Of late, she had been rather jumpy, and had even accidentally blasted one of Grand Admiral Datamon's messengers to death with a stun flame shot. Thank goodness the Grand Admiral had understood-if one is threatened by Admiral Raidenmon, one has all reason to be afraid-and had given her nothing more than a warning to not kill his messenger Bakemon.

As she stepped into the hangar, she saw the neat rows of Gotsumon and Meteormon foot soldiers that would be the first wave of Digimon troops to attack Earth. Behind the foot soldiers were the rows of Triceramon, which were soon to be used for the burning of the unneeded human colonies. At the rear of the hangar were the Whamon, which would transport the ground troops in their mouths-Whamon had hides that could even resist the vacuum of space.The Megadramon and Gigadramon bombers were being prepared high up in the stratosphere above File Island.

In the Digimon's orbital shipyards, the emergency backup Metaltyrannomon troops were being given a full recharge by teams of Elecmon maintenance crews. Numerous Mekanorimon vehicles were brought out of storage, having last been used twenty years ago, during the Digimon's conquest of the Muuns, from the planet Muunilist. Gleaming rows of polished metal stood out in the dark maintenance chambers.

Plus; interrogators Arukenimon and Mummymon were warming up their torture chambers. Just in case.

Kokatorimon stepped up to a podium that was facing the troops, and cleared her throat. She squawked into the voice amplifier mounted on the podium.

"All troops! We shall take the Kanto colony by storm today!" she declared, unfolding her large wings. Compared to the Triceramon troops, her wings were nearly three times larger then they were tall.

"Go over your battle orders! Should _anyone_ screw up…" she said, leaving the sentence hanging, "You know what will happen."

The troops nodded, and did an about-face. They then marched into the open mouths of the Whamon transports, where they strapped themselves to the walls of the titanic Digimon's mouth. As the ectoparasitic Gravimon generated anti-gravity wells that raised the Whamon, slowly into space, Kokatorimon allowed herself a demented smile. Her Kiwimon aides/ bodyguards stepped back, cautiously.

As she smiled, Kokatorimon received a holo-message. Giving the thought-command that would play it, she waited for the holo-projectors implanted in her eyes to load the message. The message glowed in mid-air, printed in bright red letters.

**Operation Armageddon:**

**Directive from High Council Commanders-**

1: Success percentages lower then ninety percentile will not be tolerated.

2: Resource efficiency must maintain a minimum percentage of eighty.

3: Zero error is permitted.

PS: WE'RE WATCHING YOU.

Kokatorimon merely _looked_ happy (her beak had been always shaped like a silly grin). But the truth was, she was constantly aware the many eyes of the High Council were all focused on her, in a collective, imperious manner. Their (the High Council's) message was clear:

_Failure means DEATH._

xxx

They had estimated that Earth was only two hours away, due to a warp-space rift that they had conveniently opened with the help of several Holewormmon (which had been genetically altered from ordinary Wormmon-they now could create wormhole rifts through warp space, given enough time). The troops would land, in several key locations, starting the assault immediately.

The humans and their 'pokemon' pets stood no chance at all.


	4. First Wave

**First Wave**

Several light years from Earth, a gaping hole opened in the blackness of space. Nothing came out of the hole, and for a minute, all that was visible were the swirling colors of warp space.

Suddenly, many huge and dark objects moved ponderously out of the warp space wormhole. The dark objects turned out to be a pod of Whamon, propelled forward by Gravimon that had attached themselves to the Whamon's hides using their dorsal suction cups.

The Whamon moved toward Earth, accelerating as they approached. Their high-speed re-entry into the atmosphere wouldn't hurt them much, and they had a team of Piximon medics on hand, anyway. The Whamon convoy moved into their assigned positions.

And plunged into Earth's atmosphere, letting the pull of gravity embrace them.

They moved through the atmosphere in an amazing free-fall. Their hides turned red-hot as they superheated due to air friction. The Whamons' Gravimon propelling units burnt up in agony and dissipated into clouds of charred ash, scattered throughout the atmosphere. They finally broke free of the atmosphere, and crashed into one of Earth's many oceans.

Except for one Whamon.

It waited in a sub-orbital position, while swarms of Triceramon organized themselves on its hide. The Triceramon got into position, and directed their smoking, fang-filled maws towards a continent called 'Ho-Enn'. They heaved in a deep breath…

And acted as one accord to exhale a gigantic, combined-effort gout of fire downwards, sending Ho-Enn's forests into flames. Herds of panicked Sentret ran out of their holes screaming as they found themselves walled in by fire, and the Ho-Enn night was soon filled with the screams of Pokemon in pain. Humans also were sent into a panicked frenzy, as death came to them in the form of fire from the heavens.

The Triceramon exhaled until their reptilian lungs ached, then ceased fire. The continent of Ho-Enn, once a lush, green paradise, was now a black wasteland. The wails and screams of those who had survived the flame run were abruptly cut short as the Gigadramon and Megadramon troops started their aerial saturation-bombing run. The sounds of explosions and pain eventually stopped, and the Whamon transport moved, on a heading to its next destination: Johto.

xxx

In Johto, it was at the crack of dawn, when a monstrous object moved in front of, and blotted out, the morning sun. Groggy residents of Johto looked skyward, in bewilderment, wondering what had blocked off the sun.

Instead, they saw fire descending upon them.

Homes and cities were set aflame, and the Digimon's bombers made sure that no one lived to warn Kanto's residents about the impending attack. A small resistance was encountered at Cherrygrove City, where the locals used solar beam attacks to hit back at the attackers. The resistance was soon quashed, and Kokatorimon received the following message:

**TARGETS ELIMINATED: Mission Accomplished**

She smiled, and waved an Otamamon communications officer over. He came rushing with several dwarf-sized Syakomon on his back, and saluted her when he stopped.

"You summoned me, Colonel?"

"Tell the Whamon that now is the time for the Gotsumon and Meteormon to be deployed," said Kokatorimon, "And tell them that we shall begin by attacking the Kanto city called 'Vermillion'."

The Otamamon nodded, and used his prehensile tadpole tail to stroke a Syakomon's shell. The Syakomon parted its bivalve shell, and revealed its green, mucous-like body core. Its body core then proceeded to contort, recolor and reshape itself, until it resembled the head of a Starmon.

The Starmon's face remained passive for a moment, and then moved its lips as though it were talking, "Colonel, we have moved into position for deployment. Awaiting your command."

"Consider yourself commanded," squawked Kokatorimon, fluffing her feathers, "We'll start the attack at Vermillion City."

"Yes, Ma'am," replied the Starmon, as the Syakomon's body core reverted to its natural green state, and closed its shell.

xxx

Lieutenant Surge, Kanto's Minister of Defense, scowled over his morning coffee at the scout report one of his troops had brought to him. The report absurdly claimed that Ho-Enn and Johto had been attacked and annihilated by unknown forces. He just couldn't believe that the report had been submitted by his top scout, Ganesh Prakash, who was usually above nonsense like this.

"Ganesh, this is nonsense," he said, waving the paper around, "How could anyone destroy two continents in several hours? It doesn't make sense. And you KNOW I HATE nonsense."

"But sir, it's true. My Alakazam confirms it," protested Ganesh, taking out a Poke-ball, "You could ask him if you want to."

Surge raised an eyebrow. Ganesh's super-psychic Alakazam never lied or made mistakes. If it had Seen the destruction of Ho-Enn and Johto, no matter how absurd the idea was, action had to be taken.

Surge stood up behind his desk, "Thank you, Ganesh. Please tell all my men to man their battle stations, all over Kanto. Tell them that it's a drill if you have to. I'm guessing if those attackers are still bent on destruction, Kanto's next."

xxx

All over Kanto, Lt. Surge's men got into their assigned battle positions. Some had seen the smoke coming from Kanto, some hadn't. Civilians were ushered into underground bomb shelters, and all capable Pokemon trainers were brought out in case their strength was needed.

But the first wave of Digimon came from Vermillion Harbor, nowhere else.

Several Whamon swam up to shore, beaching their selves and opening their fanged jaws to release hordes of Gotsumon and Meteormon ground troops. Several Starmon battle officers then walked out onto the beach, flanking Kokatorimon. She looked at the humans accompanied by Pokemon training their rifles at her troops, and sniffed. Stupid humans.

The Whamon kicked their powerful tails, moving out to the open sea, leaving behind Crabmon mounts if anyone needed to get to them.

"I come to negotiate a treaty," she screeched, spreading her wings, "Bring your leader to me!"

"After what you did to Johto and Ho-Enn?" shouted one of the humans, "I ought to do you in right now for that!"

"Rocker, enough!" said a firm voice from an unknown person, "I will see to this treaty."

Kokatorimon saw a well-built human male walk up towards her. His heavy boots made crunching noises as beached shells were crushed by his footsteps. He stopped three meters from her, accompanied by a yellow, rodent-like Pokemon that had yellow pouches on its cheeks.

"I am Lieutenant Surge, Kanto's Minister of Defense," said the human, staring at Kokatorimon, "What you have done today is abominable, but I'm open to negotiations if it will save Kanto from a similar fate."

Kokatorimon laughed, "I have been tasked with harvesting you humans and your pets here to be used as slaves for the Digimon Empire. That is the treaty, and it is take it or leave it."

Surge's facial expression hardened, "I cannot accept such terms. Hence, I can only offer you resistance!"

"Very well," said Kokatorimon, her voice deadly low, "You leave me no choice."

She turned and walked onto the back of an awaiting Crabmon. Once it had begun to wade into the water, she turned and said, "Deal with the humans."

The humans opened fire and their Pokemon attacked, as the Digimon troops swarmed forward.

xxx

Utter chaos ensued upon the clashing of the troops. Human troops used their projectile weapons against the charging Gotsumon and Meteromon, but to no effect. The relentless Digimon troops pushed forward even though some of them now lacked limbs. Pokemon attacked viciously with a large variety of attacks, a few of which succeeded in killing off the mindless Digimon troops.

But the Digimon held their own against the Earthlings' resistance. The Gotsumon and Meteormon used their rock-hard stone fists to pound humans and Pokemon to death, often with a single swipe. The Starmon commanders used clusters of falling meteors to strike down their targets.

Not long after the battle started, Vermillion Harbor was piled high with corpses of Digimon, Pokemon, and humans. The sand beyond the tide's reach was stained red with blood and scattered with wounded soldiers. Human medics rushed onto the battlefield with their Chansey, intending to tend to the wounded.

The humans then learnt a horrifying fact: The Digimon did not consider medical personnel to be inviolate during a battle. The medics were ruthlessly cut down, regardless of the humans' rules of war. The resistance at Vermillion Harbor was eventually crushed, though not without considerable losses on the Digimon's side.

By sunset that day, the Digimon had claimed Vermillion City as their first territory on the planet Earth.


	5. The Resistance

**The Resistance**

"Colonel Kokatorimon," rumbled a low, mechanical voice, "Step up to the stand."

Kokatorimon slowly moved onto the court chamber's stand, visibly shaking with fear. She felt the many eyes of the Digimon High Council on her, and it was scaring her to no end. The Council members' stares seemed o penetrate into her very bones, as if they were laser beams.

If their eyes _had_ been lasers, she would have been nothing but a smoking heap of burnt flesh by now.

"Your report indicates a large margin of ineffeciency," said Logistics Chief MarinDevimon, in his high-pitched, whistling voice. It sounded as though he was speaking underwater, "You lost 20.08 percent of your troops, out of an allowed 20 percent. Explain."

"My Lord, the resistance I encountered at Vermillion Harbor was greater than I expected. I never…"

"SILENCE!" Boomed Admiral Raidenmon, directing his cyclopean gaze at her, "YOU FAILED TO COMPLETE YOUR MISSION!"

"I… I completed it!" Kokatorimon's voice was now several octaves higher than its usually shrill pitch, "It's…"

"You know what the punishment for failure is," hissed MetalSeadramon, rising in his seat like a snake about to strike.

"No! Please!" Cried Kokatorimon, falling to her knees.

"Instant Death," rumbled Machinedramon, his shoulder-mounted cannons rotating sinisterly in their housing.

"PLEASE!"

"General Zanbamon, proceed," said Grand Admiral Datamon in his ice-cold voice.

Without a word, Zanbamon dashed out of his seat, his colossal halberd raised. Kokatorimon's beak opened in a silent scream, as she was overshadowed by his reared-up centaurian body. His halberd sliced through the air, too fast for the eye to see.

It moved towards her.

It moved _away_ from her.

Zanbamon turned and walked calmly back to his chair. Behind him, Kokatorimon seemed to be frozen in position. Her beak was still wide open, her eyes staring at the space where he loomed over her.

Time seemed to unfreeze as her head fell to the cold, steel floor. Her body fell alongside her head, limp and seemingly-boneless. None of the Council members seemed to be fazed by this.

Datamon broke the silence, "Clean up the mess."

He strode out of the courtroom, as did the other Council members. Several Sukamon and Chuumon rushed out of their janitorial chambers, and picked up what was left of Kokatorimon.

Her face was still frozen in a grimace of fear.

xxx

The Digimon High Council was again assembled, but this time in a military war room. A map of Kanto was projected on the wall by two Mamemon crewmen, and Vermillion City was highlighted as blue, meaning that it was a Digimon-conquered area. The rest of the map was red, indicating that no conquering had been done yet.

On another wall, a Syakomon communicator had formed the image of a black figure with a ragged cape covering its back. The image took in the room's occupants with its beady eyes, before speaking up.

"Where is Colonel Kokatorimon?" It asked, in a rasping voice.

"She was terminated earlier today, my Lord," replied Datamon, bowing his head, "She was charged with criminal incompetence."

"Has a new Colonel been elected?"

"We await your approval, my Lord."

"Very well," rasped the figure, now turning its head towards the map of Kanto, "What is this nonsense? I want more blue on that map!"

"We're working on it, my Lord."

"You will," snapped the figure, before severing its connection to the Syakomon.

Datamon looked at the datapad in front of him, and thought over the data that Kokatorimon had collected. Apparently Kanto was only truly vulnerable to an aerial attack, since most of its coastal areas were rather well-defended by human and Pokemon armies. Datamon was wondering about how many potential slaves they would lose if Kanto was bombed intensively, before noticing a small note the late Colonel Kokatorimon had added at the end of her report.

He smiled carnivorously, turning to MetalSeadramon, "Are you troops ready?"

"Always," hissed the metallic dragon, "Are we to attack a coastal area?"

"Yes. This time, I want Logistics Chief MarineDevimon to go with you on reconaissance. I want him to gauge how many troops you'll need," replied Datamon.

"We'll be attacking a small coastal town called Pallet."


	6. The Resistance 2

**The Resistance 2**

Logistics Chief MarineDevimon stood next to Commander MetalSeadramon, watching as rows of Divermon Troops marched into the gaping maws of Whamon transports that would ferry them to Earth. After the Divermon were the Octomon and Gesomon troops, all equipped with several deadly weapons. The Whamon transports closed their mouths after all the troops allocated to them had entered their cavernous gullets. Numerous Gravimon attached to the Whamons' sides projected gravity wells that slowly lifted the transports into the air.

"I'm curious as to why the late Kokatorimon sustained such losses,"said MarineDevimon, in a matter-of-fact tone, "She had never done so before, during her entire career."

MetalSeadramon harbored an intense dislike for the Logistics Chief, who had, through his mathematical obsession with logistics, brought upon the deaths of more than a dozen capable military personnel during his five-century career. He hissed, "She claimed to have encountered a resistance more powerful than she could have anticipated. I fail to see what is so difficult to comprehend about that."

"Whatever. That is all in the past now."

"Stop bothering me."

"Very well," replied MarineDevimon, "But know this, _Commander_ - I am the arbiter of life and death for command personnel. Your life is no exception."

Before MetalSeadramon could respond, MarineDevimon cut him off with a sinister laugh, "You would do well to remember whose life is at stake on this mission, should the statistics turn out to be against you."

xxx

It was a starry night in Kanto, and two Pokemon trainers were duking it out in Professor Samuel Oak's laboratory compound with their Pokemon, near the coast, and several kilometers from Pallet Town's residential areas. The matchup was an energetic, electrifying Pikachu against a speedy, sharp-clawed Scyther. The two Pokemon ran circles around each other, exchanging electric shocks and slashing attacks which often missed their targets by mere millimeters. Adding to the tense atmosphere was the fact that they were battling on top of a cliff, which fell several hundred feet into the churning sea below. With each new set of attacks, the Pokemon were gradually moving closer to the edge.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" cried a raven-haired teenager, as his rodent-like Pokemon evaded several furious slashes from his opponent's Scyther. The Pokemon skidded dangerously along the cliff's edge, but regained its balance and fired a colossal thunderbolt at the mantis-like Pokemon sprinting towards it.

"Scyther, Agility!" shouted his opponent, a lanky man wearing a pink headband, causing his insectoid Pokemon to put on a sudden burst of speed, dodging the thunderbolts that shot towards it. The bolts struck the ground, shaking the very arena upon which the Pokemon battle was taking place.

The raven-haired trainer knew exactly what to do, despite the fact that his opponent's Scyther was running circles around his Pikachu, too fast for the eye to catch, "Thunder Wave!"

The tiny electric mouse discharged a series of pulsing waves from its charged body, in all directions. Upon hitting the waves, the speedy Scyther felt its nervous system shorting out. With a faint cry, it fell to ground, in a faint. It's trainer, upon seeing its condition, took out its Pokeball.

"Scyther, return!" a beam of red light shot out of the red-and-sphere in his hands, enveloping the unconcious Pokemon, "Ash, you're still in tip-top shape! And Pikachu was amazing!"

"Well, Tracey,"replied Ash, now stroking Pikachu's ears, "We're going to be challenging the Indigo League within a month, so we're training to be the best! Right, Pikachu?"

"Ka, pikapi," was Pikachu's affirmative reply, as he cuddled his trainer.

"Well, I wish you good luck with that,"smiled Tracey, as he turned around and walked back towards Professor Oak's laboratory, "And good night."

Ash and his Pikachu watched Tracey's retreating back for several seconds, before stretching out on the grass and lying down lazily. They watched the stars for a while, in silence, until Ash let out an excited cry.

"Look, Pikachu! It's a shooting star! No wait, it's several of them!"

The half-asleep Pokemon perked up upon hearing this, and stood up to watch the rare phenomenon alongside his trainer. Indeed, _six_ shooting stars were streaking through the obsidian sky together.

They marveled at the shooting stars, before they both realized something - it was growing larger in their sight, and coming _closer_ with every second, and looked as though it was going to impact in the sea below them. They were not very knowledgeable with regards to astronomy, but they both knew that shooting stars did not actually crash into the Earth's surface. And it seemed unlikely that shooting stars knew how to fall in a perfect triangular formation.

"Run, Pikachu!" shouted Ash, as he picked himself up and sprinted away from the cliff's edge. Pikachu was hot on his heels, and jumped up, clinging to his jacket for dear life, as the 'shooting stars' approached the sea beneath the cliff. They were several feet from reaching Professor Oak's laboratory, running for their lives an shouting in panic...

When the 'shooting stars' impacted at the base of the cliff and in the sea.

xxx

Professor Oak and Tracey were just about to lock-up the lab and go to bed, when they heard some panicked shouting coming from outside. Opening the kitchen door to investigate, they saw that Ash, with his terrified Pikachu clinging to his jacket, was running at full tilt towards the lab. Behind him, several glowing _things_ were falling towards the ocean's calm surface. The meteorite lookalikes were red-hot from their atmospheric re-entry, and time seemed to slow down as they fell.

Professor Oak recovered from the shock first, "Tracey, transfer all the Pokemon to the Viridian City Pokemon Center! NOW!"

Tracey ran off into the basement, and released several Abras and Kadabras. Within seconds, all the Pokemon in the lab had been teleported to the Viridian City Pokemon Center.

"BRACE YOURSELVES!" bellowed Ash, as he ran towards the lab, where Professor Oak and Tracey were waiting in the Professor's jeep, already started and ready to make a dash for it.

At that second, the entire area quaked with the impact of the 'shooting stars'. The entire seaside cliff collapsed into the sea as its base was demolished, and several fissures opened in the ground, as the earth shook violently, more than it had ever done since the Great Earthquake of 1957. The elevated ground of the coast fell into the the sea, sliding down into the deepening waters like lava flowing out of a volcano. The sea, with vast amounts of water suddenly being displaced, rushed inland in a towering tidal wave, flattening everything in its path. Trees, buildings, nothing remained standing after feeling the sea's incoming wrath.

Professor Oak drove the jeep towards the inhabited parts of Pallet Town, as his laboratory collapsed into so much rubble behind them. As much as it pained his heart to leave behind the lab that had been his home for the last three decades, he forced himself to drive on. They had gained a substantial lead ahead of the tidal wave's front, and it roared towards them like a hungry predator, demolishing everything in its path.

They reached Pallet Town's residential area, just as the wave-front finally stopped its vicious march, only to see that Pallet Town had not been spared from the earthquake's fury. Most of the houses were still standing, but several of the older houses had fallen apart as though they were built out of a deck of cards.

The silence of the night was broken by the hellish screams and cries of the wounded.


	7. The Resistance 3

**The Resistance 3**

"That tidal wave really hit us hard..." Tracey's voice trailed-off as he, Professor Oak, Ash, and Pikachu surveyed the damage Pallet Town had suffered during the impact of the mysterious 'shooting stars'. Professor Oak's town laboratory was still standing, though several windows had been broken. Three houses had collapsed, namely, the residences of Pallet Town's Officer Jenny, greengrocer, and one of the teachers from Pallet Pokemon Tech.

People had rushed out of their homes, and were currently working together to try and rescue the injured Officer Jenny from the wreckage of her house. The greengrocer and teacher had been pronounced dead by the town doctor as soon as they had been pulled from the rubble of their respective houses, and now the rescue-workers were in a frantic hurry, trying to save Jenny.

If she hadn't died already, that was.

"We'd better check on your mother and my grandchildren," said Profeesor Oak, climbing back into his jeep. Ash and Tracey hopped into the back seat, and they drove to the Ketchum residence, which was apparently still intact.

xxx

"Ash, my baby!" wailed Delia Ketchum, embracing Ash (and Pikachu) in a bone-crushing hug, that made them both go blue in the face, "Thank goodness you're safe!"

"We escaped just in time," Oak informed her, "If not for Ash and Pikachu, we would been almost in bed when the impact happened."

"Impact? Wha- what impact?" asked Delia, in confusion, "All I recall was a loud sound, and the earthquakes... Then Mimey whisked me out of the house."

"Mi-mime, Mister Mime!" agreed Mimey, making gestures indicative of an earthquake.

Before anything more could be said, Officer Jenny approached them. Aside from a bandage around her forehead, she looked fine.

"Is everyone alright?"

"Yes. And we witnessed the impact of several _shooting stars_ that caused this... catastrophe," replied Professor Oak, "We escaped just before my coastal lab facility collapsed."

Jenny nodded grimly, "Aye, that's what my Abra told me. But I highly-doubt that a shooting star could cause such aftershocks."

She turned to leave, but hesitated, "Investigative teams from Viridian U. are on their way. It would be helpful if you could provide information to them regarding the impact."

"Will do, Officer," said Tracey.

xxx

Amidst the swirling waves along the ruined coast, where the impact had happened, a massive Whamon kicked its tail ponderously. It slowly hauled itself into deeper waters, where it rejoined the other five transports. Opening its mouth, it released several spider-like Infermon, which proceeded to fly high into the air.

The arachnid Digimon flew in precise, geometric formations around each other, leaving a glowing yellow trail behind them as they shot through the air. Eventually, the interwoven trails formed a circular, iris-shaped web, which began to glow even brighter, as the Infermon jumped back down onto the Whamon's backs.

Now, Infermon were originally programmer Digimon, which were created to help with hacking into and building trapdoors through cyberspace. However, these Infermon had been trained to build _portals_ between worlds, to facilitate the speedy transfer of personnel and materials. They had been useful during the infiltration and subjugation of several worlds, and their involvement with the planned invasion of Earth was little different from their former duties.

In this case, their portal was functioning as a gateway between the planet Data, and Earth.

The web ceased its glowing, and became an opaque circle of rippling blue light. Several dark shapes became visible through the portal, and the 'skin' on the gateway bulged outwards, as a mini-Whamon burst through the portal, followed by several mechanical constructs, which resembled laterally-rotating gears. The mini-Whamon dove into the sea, barely creating any waves as it broke through the water's surface.

The other, larger Whamon, began releasing the troops they were carrying, and soon the sea's surface was covered in neat rows of Divermon, Octomon, and Gesomon troops, treading water in their battalion formations. The smaller-sized Whamon surfaced in front of the assembled troops, and slowly began to open its mouth.

MetalSeadramon and MarineDevimon hovered out of the now-open maw, and turned to face their troops. The troops saluted, the Divermon with their Harpoons, the Gesomon with their clawed-tentacles, and the Octomon with their swords.

"Hear me, aquatic troops of the Digimon Empire!" hissed MetalSeadramon, as MarineDevimon watched, "Your hour has come, and you shall conquer!"

The troops replied with one booming voice, "YES, SIR!"

"We shall proceed by marching the sea inland," continued the great sea dragon, "I shall command the tides to flow over the lands we are to dominate, and you shall squash all resistance in your path."

He fixed a steely gaze upon his troops, "Kill all who oppose you, and show no mercy. Any problems shall be reported to me, and no one else."

xxx

The investigation team from Viridian University had just arrived, and were questioning Professor Oak, Ash, and Tracey, when the (now restored) nighttime silence was broken by a sound not unlike that of thunder. Curious townspeople gathered, and almost instantly, everyone asked the same question;

"What was that?"

This was followed by several other responses to the sound, mainly regarding a possible second earthquake, aliens preparing to lift-off, and even the awakening of Lugia. Though the last claim was highly-illogical, given that Lugia was known to only inhabit the Whirl Islands.

Out of the blue, the sound of rushing water became apparent. People were shocked when a shallow wave rushed towards them, covering the entire town in water barely more than a foot in depth. Some of the bewildered townsfolk were made even more confused when small fishes were spotted swimming calmly in the shallow water.

"What the?!"

"Water? Here?"

"What's going on?"

"Starmie, go!" this was from Gary Oak, whose parents' house had been spared by the earthquake.

As the water level slowly rose, Water Pokemon were released from their Pokeballs, and their trainers clambered onto their backs. Some other people ran up to their houses, and tried to get up on the roof. The water was now almost six-feet deep.

Fortunately for them, they responded just in the nick of time, as a large, twenty-foot wave rushed towards the town.

xxx

MetalSeadramon watched as the wave he had summoned, surged towards Pallet Town on a thousand unseen feet. He saw several humans and Pokemon in the water, and even more humans were standing on the roofs of their box-like houses. His Divermon, Octomon, and Gesomon troops were already underwater, awaiting the order that would send them charging forward to deal with the town's residents.

Their serpentine commander felt the water's power, as he pulled the wave-front higher, until it just-barely stood taller than the houses standing in its path. He held the wave, waiting until it was mere meters from the foremost house...

And released it, letting nature and gravity take their course on things.

As the wave fell forward, it tore down the houses right before it, sending their rooftop settlers into the churning mass of black water, and flooded Pallet Town in several meters of liquid fury. The flooding had such force, that it pushed any Water Pokemon that were swimming, with their piggy-back trainers, further away within seconds.

MetalSeadramon calmly flicked a stray fish off his tail, and said the magic word, "Attack."

xxx

"Not again!" exclaimed Professor Oak, from the back of his Kingdra, "Brace yourselves!"

Ash and Pikachu, on his Lapras, and Tracey, clinging to his Poliwrath's back, swam close to, and clung on to the Professor's Kingdra, as the smaller, yet seeming more menacing, wave approached rapidly.

It hit, and they watched in horror as several houses in front of it crumbled before its wrath. The people that had been on the roof fell into the fast-moving water. The unfortunate souls found themselves tried to swim, only to find that their efforts were futile at the very least. It was like swimming in a belender set to 'mince', with bricks, wood, and other debris thrown into the mix. Bones were broken and screams joined the sound of tidal terror, as water-slung debris hit their victims, often with fatal force.

As their Pokemon fought to just stay in position, Ash saw something that the distracted Professor and Tracey failed to notice.

The approaching group of nightmarish-looking... _squids and octopi?!_

xxx

As would have been expected of the soldiers under Commander MetalSeadramon's command, the Divermon, Octomon, and Gesomon were truly in their element, as they swarmed forward despite the violent waves, brandishing their harpoons, swords, lasers, and claws. The Octomon led the charge on the surface, their swords cutting through any humans in their way. One of their other seven tentacles held a small laser, and they coordinated their firing to clear the path for the Gesomon troops to swarm forward and bludgeon some doomed humans.

Underwater, battalions of Divermon propelled themselves forward, harpoons in hand, ready to impale some humans and Pokemon. Their lantern-like, luminous eyes saw clearly through the dark waters, and soon, they were rising towards the surface, where several unsuspecting Pokemon and humans were treading water.

xxx

Officer Jenny's Cloyster felt something hit its shell hard, and swivelled its pearl-shaped head to check on the disturbance. It mistress was riding on her Slowbro, which seemed particularly distressed at the moment. Cloyster decided that it would see for itself what was going on, before alerting its mistress.

It saw a blunted spear in the hands of a lone merman, and realized that its hard shell had saved it.

Upon seeing the group of sadistically-grinning mermen approaching it, behind the original merman, it fired a volley of spikes at them using its infamous Spike Cannon move. The calcite spines hit one of the mermen, puncturing the oxygen tank on his back, while the other mermen evaded the attack with blinding speed. As the wounded merman surfaced for air, Cloyster hit it in the face with an Aurora Beam, and fired some more spikes at the others.

In a panic, it cried out to its mistress. When no reply was forthcoming, it turned to check on her, and got the shock of its life.

Officer Jenny was clinging to a tree's branches, and was firing her revolver at several mermen and squid-like creatures which were trying to scramble up the slender branches. Her Slowbro lay in a bleeding heap at the fork between two branches, and Cloyster saw that two spears had gone right through its bellicose body. The Shellder on its tail had a cracked shell, and was currently firing Water Gun attacks at the octopus-creatures that were trying to dismember it with their rusted scimitars.

It felt several more spears hit its shell, and fired three Aurora Beams in return. Swimming frantically towards its mistress, it heard a bizzare command being issued by what sounded like...

Ash Ketchum?!

"EVERYONE, GET OUT OF THE WATER!"

Only then did Cloyster see Ash's Pikachu on a Pidgeot's back, with its cheeks shooting sparks. Ash, Tracey, and the Professor were on the laboratory's roof, along with several other humans and Pokemon.

It launched itself out of the water, and joined its mistress in fighting-off the fiends that were trying to climb the tree she was on.

xxx

MetalSeadramon flew over the battlefield, watching as his troops efficiently cut down most of the humans and their pets. Some of the humans were holding their own with the help of their pets, and had killed several of his troops already. He sent a telepathic order for Reinforcements to deal with those particular nuisances, causing two-dozen Divermon to rush in that direction. Suddenly, he heard a human shouting out an interesting order;

"EVERYONE, GET OUT OF THE WATER!"

He turned towards the human who had issued the words, and felt his reptilian blood run icy.

The human's yellow pet was generating electric sparks, and was being hoisted up into the air by an avian Pokemon of some sort. All the humans had evacuated the water, and were now beating his troops back from their precarious perches on the roofs of buildings and treetops.

"OUT OF THE WATER, NOW!" he bellowed at his troops through their telepathic link. His troops, trained to instantly-obey, fled for land with utmost haste. The Digimon fought their way onto dry areas, and soon, a messy all-out melee was taking place on several rooftops and treetops.

Several battalions had made it, but a small voice broke through the sounds of combat;

"PI... KA... CHUUU!!!"

MetalSeadramon whipped his head around, and saw the yellow Pokemon dropping into the water, impossibly large amounts of thunder and lightning shooting of its body.

The Pokemon hit the water with a splash. Thousands of volts of electricity lit-up the water like the Northern Lights, and hundreds of Digimon troops were paralyzed in an instant. The current was amplified, and the paralyzed grunts expired, their bodies fried to a crisp. The water's surface was soon crowded with innumerable Digimon corpses, burnt and reeking of ozone. The water darkened once more as the little Pokemon stopped its attack, and was retrieved by its avian ally.

MetalSeadramon roared in anger, as he ordered the rooftop troops to kill everyone save the yellow Pokemon's trainer.

But the Digimon grunts had lost their advantages of numbers and surprise, and were now being slowly, but surely, overwhelmed by the humans and their Pokemon.

MetalSeadramon flew into the fray, a flurry of dancing fins and deadly energy blasts. His frenzied attacks demolished several buildings, and made water evaporate into steam wherever it hit the surface. Humans, Pokemon, and even some Digimon were disintegrated instantly upon being hit by his energy blasts.

For most of the humans, their last sight was a metal dragon, with brilliantly-glowing energy pouring out of its mouth, towards them.

_"__I'll deal with MarineDevimon later," _he decided, as he mentally calculated how many troops he had lost.

In that moment of madness, while he had been busy destroying things, Pidgeot deposited Pikachu on his back. Ash, who had been watching the execution of his plan, narrowed his eyes at the metallic serpent that was unleashing extreme destruction on what was left of his hometown.

"PIKACHU, THUNDER!"

xxx

MetalSeadramon felt Pikachu's paws on his back a second too late. He whipped his head around, and opened his jaws to bite the foul beast in two...

xxx

Pikachu, clinging on to the metal dragon's large scales, saw its jaws opening wide as it brought its head around, fearsome-looking fangs lining a mouth sparking with energy.

It let loose with a Thunder attack, the _perfect_ Thunder attack, as its trainer had commanded.

xxx

Ash watched with a mix of horror and anticipation as Pikachu unleashed his Thunder power onto the dragon. Ash knew that he had just gambled greatly, assuming that the dragon was a Water-elemental, and that Electric attacks would affect it in a deadly manner...

The clouds in the sky above parted, and a single, collosal thunderbolt flew out of the heavens towards the metal abomination that had destroyed much of Pallet Town. The bolt hit its intended target dead-on, and the immense reptilian beast lit-up like a supernova, its coiled body convulsing violently. Smoke billowed out of its lengthy body at several points, as its body trashed around in agony of the highest order.

It screeched, a dreadful, earsplitting sound, as a _second _thunderbolt descended upon it from the sky above. Ash looked around in confusion, and saw Gary's Magneton commanding the blast, its three eyes and six magnets glowing with energy. The dragon fired random energy blasts out of its mouth, hitting nothing but the sky and some of the water it had summoned, as its mind slowly burnt-out.

Finally, his energy sapped, Pikachu stopped the attack, and fell-off the dragon's body. Magneton fell likewise, but onto a rooftop with a _clunk_, completely drained by the exhaustive effort. Pidgeot swooped in and retrieved Pikachu, as the dragon's devastated body somehow remained floating in the air, now forming a looped, figure-of-eight with its coils.

Seemingly in slow-motion, the dragon fell towards the water's surface, in gravity's embrace. It hit the water with a mighty splash, and slowly sank, copious amounts of bubbles appearing as air escaped from its charred body. The mysterious creatures which had attacked Pallet Town, jumped into the water after their ally (master? commander? friend?), and disappeared beneath the waves. The water started to pull back towards the coast, and by the time it was gone in its entirety, the dragon's carcass had vanished, along with the creatures.

Those who remained of Pallet Town's residents cheered, save for Ash.

He had a bad feeling about this...


	8. Emperor's Bidding

**Emperor's Bidding**

Logistics Chief MarineDevimon slammed one of his boneless fists onto the reports littering the tabletop in front of him. He had just finished his examination of the battle reports from Pallet Town, and he was furious. How in the seventh circle of Hell could MetalSeadramon have lost eighty-four percent of the troops under his command?! The Logistics Chief hissed in annoyance, as he realized that he was now the unofficial leader of the Earth invasion force (which, admittedly, wasn't half as formidable as it used to be), and was obligated by duty to report in to the Grand Admiral's office regarding the changes in the chain of command.

He turned-on his personal communications console, and whistled the three musical notes that opened the console's secure transmission channel. As he waited for the netwrok to respond, he looked out of the transparisteel window of his office. The portal to Data was still open, with its Infermon supervisors walking cautiously around its glowing yellow edges. A soft beeping sound drew his attention back to his communications console, where a message was flashing on the screen in minute, scarlet letters.

"URGENT MESSAGE FROM GRAND ADMIRAL DATAMON," read the message, and for the first time in several centuries, MarineDevimon felt a dampness about his tentacles, as he very-nearly inked himself in fear.

xxx

Grand Admiral Datamon activated his communications console as he saw the message indicating that he had an incoming transmission from earth. He flicked the switch using a mechanical digit, and turned-on the screen. MarineDevimon's emotionally-devoid visage filled the screen, and the Logistics Chief spoke.

"Good day, sir. I just received your summons, and I…"

"Spare me the nonsense. It is NOT a good day for me, since that idiot MetalSeadramon got himself killed by a rodent Pokemon. A _rodent_!"

"Well, sir… We didn't anticipate… The humans… They put up a shocking resistance…" MarineDevimon was almost babbling now, wondering how on Data the Grand Admiral had found out about Commander MetalSeadramon's humiliating defeat. No reports had been sent to the homeworld yet, to his knowledge.

"How aptly you describe the late Commander's demise. Indeed, he was shocked to death by that rodent using an electrical attack against him."

"I…"

"SILENCE!" boomed Datamon, immediately sending his underling into terrified silence, "The Emperor himself has ordered that Arukenimon and Mummymon are to be sent to relieve you of your _unofficial _command, and complete the analysis of Earth's defenses."

MarineDevimon's semi-translucent skin paled even further, as he stammered, "The… The Intelligence Chiefs are coming here?"

"See to it that you report to me as soon as they arrive. Your failure to step-in and defeat the humans for EIGHT HOURS after the battle was lost… Lets just say that you have just become officially dispensable," snapped Datamon, shutting-off the transmission.

On Earth, MarineDevimon almost fainted at his desk, out of nothing but pure fear.

xxx

Arukenimon and Mummymon, the lovingly-married Digimon couple that served as the Digimon Empire's Intelligence Chiefs and professional interrogators, strode casually through the portal between their home-planet and the annoying hovel called Earth, and immediately noticed a fearful-looking MarineDevimon standing close to the portal, flanked by twelve Divermon troops.

"Sir and Ma'am, welcome to Earth. If there-"

"Shut up," hissed Arukenimon, "Go back to Data, and face the music for your incompetence."

"Indeed," rasped Mummymon, staring at the squid-like Digimon with a single yellowed eye, "You, who have brought about the deaths of so many others, will now face death, yourself."

"Idiot!" snapped Arukenimon, stomping on Mummymon's foot, causing him to hop-about in mock-pain, "You've spoilt the Grand Admiral's surprise!"

By that point in time, MarineDevimon had already crossed through the portal, and was en route to the Grand Admiral's office.

xxx

While the Digimon troops were being reorganized by their new commanders, the residents of Pallet Town were working alongside helping hands from Pewter City and Saffron City, in a massive effort to clean-up the ruins of their town, and also to bury the numerous dead that the mysterious invaders had left behind. Human and Pokemon bodies were neatly-arranged in the center of town, while the bodies of the unknown creatures were piled-up in what resembled a bonfire heap, at a nearby field.

Ash, Misty, Brock, and Gary Oak were supervising their various Pokemon, which were helping to do things such as dig-through rubble, removing debris, and tending to the wounded. Professor Oak was providing some limited medical assistance to whoever he could help, to the best of his ability.

On the other side of town, Officer Jenny was tallying the number of casualties that Pallet Town had suffered last night. Humans and Pokemon included, thirty-seven of Pallet Town's residents had been killed, eight were missing, eighteen were critically-wounded, and three were lightly-injured.

"This is one HELL of a mess," said Officer Jenny from Pewter City, as she threw another waterlogged carcass onto the already-sizeable pile of dead unknown creatures.

"Damn right!" snapped her sister, Officer Jenny of Saffron city, lighting a cigarette, "Surge is supposed to meet us here – he's out of traction already."

"He sure recovered fast, didn't he?"

"The damn fool's in a wheelchair. Apparently, the _things_ that attacked Vermillion took out his legs with some sort of handheld energy weapon. His Intelligence agents tell me that the attacks on Pallet Town and Vermillion City are most probably being directed by the same forces, too!"

Meanwhile, Ash, Misty, and Professor Oak were passing-by, and had overheard the end of the two Officers' conversation. The trio approached the two blue-garbed women, curiosity written all over their faces.

"Excuse me, Officer Jenny," began Professor Oak, "But did you just say that last night's attack was directed by the same forces as those that destroyed Vermillion?"

"Surge's Intelligence agents provided us with that particular tidbit," nodded Officer Jenny of Saffron City, "But we had to use a Gengar to extract the information from them."

"Whatever in the world for?" asked Misty, "You mean they wouldn't willingly give you the information?"

Pewter City's Jenny shook her head, her expression grim, "No. We had to use a Gengar because the agents weren't in any state to provide us with reliable information. The poor men were babbling incoherently when we found them, but their minds had clear-enough information for Gengar to extract."

"What proof do you have to back their information?" this from Professor Oak.

"Their memories showed that the attackers at Vermillion had sent and received signals from a rocky outcropping somewhere in-between Pallet's and Vermillion's waters. Add that _thing_ to the equation," she gestured at the glowing circle hovering in mid-air above Pallet's destroyed coastline, "And we could deduce rather effectively who the attackers were, for both incidents."

"What's that?!" yelled Ash, noticing several dark shapes flying towards them from the mysterious yellow circle. He hadn't been paying attention to what the Jennys had been saying, but had instead been observing the circle, and the floating, gear-like items that surrounded it. Small, spider-like shapes moved around the circle's perimeter, as the circle pulsated with a matte glow.

Upon hearing his words, all who were within earshot took a good look at the circle. At first, all they saw was a cloud of dark shapes flying towards them.

Which turned out to be a swarm of gigantic Dragonflies, scarlet beetles, and sickle-armed mantids, led by a slender woman in red and a lanky man in blue, both standing on a colossal flaming bird's back.

xxx

As their Birdramon mount moved to land, Arukenimon (wearing her red dress, hat, and high heels) suppressed a smirk. The pathetic weaklings before her eyes had defeated MetalSeadramon? Surely this was crystal-clear evidence of treasonous incompetence on the Aquatic Assault Commander's behalf? Birdramon finally touched-down, and she hopped-off gracefully. Her husband Mummymon – in his trench coat, boots, and hat – followed her, and gestured for their Yanmamon, Kuwagamon, and Snimon troops to stand at attention. A hundred clawed legs shook the ground as the insectoid Digimon troops landed, and the two Intelligence operatives walked up to the nearest humans – three females and two males.

"Greetings," purred Arukenimon, as they came within twenty feet of the humans. Several ferocious-looking Pokemon snarled at them, as they materialize out of spherical containment devices in the humans' hands.

"Lay down your pets and weapons," rasped Mummymon, as several humans tried to approach them, wielding tools of manual labor in a manner suggestive of violence.

"We mean no harm, after all," laughed Arukenimon, sending shivers down several human spines as she screeched with mirth, "Unless you refuse to co-operate with us, KYAHAHAHA!"

"Who in the seventh circle of Hell are you?!" shouted the elderly human male in front of them. What looked like an identification tag was clipped to his clothing, Mummymon noticed.

"How rude!" Arukenimon retorted, squinting at the elderly man, "Professor… Oak? You wouldn't even let us introduce ourselves, and you call upon Hell's name in vain!"

"Answer his question!" barked a slit-eyed man, whose hair defied gravity with its numerous spikes, "Who are you, and what do you want with us?"

"I am Arukenimon. He is Mummymon," replied the female Digimon in a singsong tone, "And we are envoys of the Digimon Empire, humble executors of our Emperor's bidding. We were sent to… persuade… you humans and your pets to be our eternal slaves. With basic work benefits, of course."

"You are raving mad!" scoffed a burly man in a business suit, who had just pushed-through the crowd. An even larger human in a trench coat – obviously a bodyguard of some sort – stoof beside him, "Do you think you could enslave us like that?"

"Definitely," hissed Arukenimon, her eyes glinting maliciously, "After all, we've gone through two of your cities, and lost only a puny number of our troops."

The man's face turned bright red, "We'll see how many troops you lose _this_ time! MACHAMP, NIDOKING, MAGNETON, GO!"

The man's bodyguard threw three of the spherical containment devices they had seen earlier into the air, and three menacing-looking Pokemon materialized. One was a hulking mass of muscle, flexing four powerful arms and crouched in a battle stance. The second was a purple creature that roared at them, spines potruding out of several spots all over its body. The last was a three-eyed metalloid thing, with screws and magnets sticking-out of its three spheroid bodily components. Seconds after their release from containment, the three of them rushed towards Arukenimon and Mummymon.

Giovanni smiled as he watched his three most powerful Pokemon prepare for a combined-assault on the two humanoid 'Digimon' standing before him. The female one looked bored, but her coat-garbed buddy seemed to shift a little, pulling an enormous shotgun out of a hidden fold in his trench coat. The insect-like things behind the two Digimon unfolded their wings, making for flight, but were halted with a hand gesture from the lady in red.

"You want to fight us?" she snickered, elbowing her partner in the stomach, "Darling, lets show them that we mean business."

"So do I!" snapped Giovanni.

"Very well then…"

What happened in the next few seconds was nearly too fast to be called a battle. Giovanni lost his smile as his Machamp tried to give the lady a Hi Jump Kick, only to receive a fatal shot to his gut from her sharpshooting partner. Magneton's body was smashed with a vicious kick from the lady, and Nidoking's attempted Horn Drill was foiled by a bone-crushing slap to the jaw from the lady, and a powerful blow to its knees with the butt of the male Digimon's shotgun.

The three Digimon fell to the ground in lifeless heaps. Machamp's entrails had been blown out of his body, and a horrified Giovanni realized that he could see the ground _through_ Machamp's abdomen, courtesy of a gaping gunshot wound. Magneton's magnets had been snapped, and the three-headed Pokemon was sparking on the ground, its eyes swivelling aimlessly in their sockets. Nidoking was slumped over, vomiting blood as he gingerly avoided putting weight on his broken kneecaps, his jaw hanging loose as though it wasn't connected to the rest of his skull anymore. The two Digimon stood unscathed several feet away from the three felled Pokemon. They didn't even seem to be breathing hard.

"Pathetic!" snarled Arukenimon, her eyes flashing with rage, "THIS is what we were sent to fight?! A disgrace to martial arts!"

"Oh yeah?" yelled a boy wearing a red hat, "We'll show you a thing or two about battling!"

At the boy's words, several of the humans nodded, and took out even more of the containment devices. The two Digimon agents looked at the display with some disdain, as though they had seen it all before, and that this was just a re-run of sorts.

"Do your worst… _human_," spat Arukenimon, as her features began to distort and melt, as though she was a mass of living clay. Some of the humans backed-off in horror as she revealed her true form, that of a woman's torso grafted to a set of spider's legs. Her eight eyes glowed with a sickly yellowish light, as she cackled.

Mummymon had also completed his transformation into – as his name suggested – a bandage-swaddled mummy, using his shotgun as an improvised crutch. His slope-shouldered form was crawling with mites and reeked of decay, scaring away some of the humans and their Pokemon.

"Fine then!" snapped the boy with the red hat, "Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Charizard, GO!"

Ash's three Pokemon materialized, and charged forward. Soon, they were joined by at least forty other Pokemon from various trainers. The Jennys had released a Cloyster and a Gengar, Professor Oak had released a Butterfree, Brock was riding on Onix's head, and Misty's Staryu was spinning through the air like a ninja's shuriken.

Flicking a strand of web-like hair behind a deformed ear, Arukenimon beckoned to her troops, "Attack!"

The swarm of insectoid Digimon flew forward, forming a cloud of gnashing mandibles and slicing sickle-arms. The sound of their beating wings drowned out all other sounds, as they rushed towards the charging Pokemon. The two crowds grew closer… closer… and closer…

And finally collided into each other, blood and other bodily components flying in all directions.

xxx

As their handpicked troops duked it out with the Pokemon, Arukenimon left Mummymon in charge, as she left for the portal to Data. She estimated that the humans would be rather difficult to fight, given that their little pets has scattered nervous systems and tough physiques. She and her husband would have no problems dealing with the Pokemon, but for standard Digimon troops… a different issue altogether. In fact, the battle was now a measly fifty feet away from the portal's base, at the ruined coastline. The sand on the coast was stained red with ichor, and body parts littered the area, as the battle raged on.

As she called for reinforcements via a Syakomon communicator, a purple-clad male Pokemon trainer noticed her actions. Realizing what she was doing, he released an Alakazam, and gave his orders.

"Jam her communications!" Gary Oak yelled, pointing at the clam-shelled creature that was relaying her words to her superiors.

Alakazam nodded, and his eyes glowed with psychic energy as he focused on the puny Digimon communicator. The Syakomon's shell shut with an audible snap, and compacted itself as though it had been thrown into a black hole. Arukenimon whipped around in a rage, as her only communicator was destroyed before her eyes.

"Too late, human! My superiors will be sending reinforcements soon!" she crowed, "All I have to do now is to keep you fools busy for the next hour or so, KYAHAHAHA!"

The spider-woman Digimon turned back to the portal, which swarming with several Infermon at its edges.

"Shut the portal but keep it viable! Reinforcements are pending in," she ordered, causing the Infermon to spring into action all over the portal, "We don't want any filth to desecrate our homeworld's soil!"

The portal's colossal passageway began to narrow, and close slowly, much like the way an iris contracts. Gary's eyes widened at the thought of what he could do with the portal… If he could get it done… They could defeat the Digimon here, and storm their homeworld!

"Alakazam! Force that portal open!"

"Ala… Kazam?" the fox-like Pokemon looked at his trainer with some confusion, "Ala, ala, ka, alakazam!"

"I don't care if it creatres a random wormhole between our two worlds. _THIS IS THE PORTAL THAT MATTERS, SO OPEN IT_!"

The portal's progressive closure suddenly stopped, and it began to gradually open once again. The Infermon that had been closing the portal paused for a moment as if confused, then resumed their work. The portal was now closing once again, though the rate of closure was different.

"Darling!" Arukenimon cried as she leapt into the fray, breaking a human's neck with one of her eight segmented legs, "I hope things are going fine?"

"Not so fine after all. They are tampering with the portal," growled Mummymon, as he pointed at the portal, which was now shaking vigorously and neither closing nor opening. Three of the Infermon on it had died and were now rapidly-decaying, as if their bodies were stuck in an accelerated time-zone.

"Shoot that one…" Arukenimon squinted as the ground beneath the portal, "That Pokemon with the whiskers and spoons! I can feel its psychic grip on the portal!"

The cadaverous crepe-clad Digimon pulled up his shotgun from its 'crutch' position, and drew a bead on the whiskered Pokemon that was messing around with the portal. The portal glowed with a blinding light, as it shook even more vigorously. Only four Infermon were left on the portal, and they were frozen in place, as they engaged in a battle of psychic energy with Alakazam, to try and shut the portal before it reached critical mass.

Mummymon's shotgun roared, and the whiskered Pokemon staggered back as the Digimon's poisoned bullet found its mark. Shrapnel from the cartridge peppered the creature's face in a hundred places, drawing blood. The Pokemon collapsed, but the portal refused to close. The remaining Infermon vanished into clouds of dust as they died, decomposed, and disintegrated within sped-up time.

"Why isn't it closing?!" shrieked Arukenimon.

"It must have been…" Mummymon's eye widened as the gravity of the situation struck him, "It's going to explode! It's at critical mass already!"

"FULL RETREAT!" bellowed his arachnid-like wife, causing their insectoid underlings to take flight towards the portal, "TO VERMILLION CITY, IMMEDIATELY!"

As the two Digimon operatives teleported out of Pallet Town, and their troops flew _en masse_ towards Vermillion City, the humans and their Pokemon started to cheer.

Seconds later, the portal collapsed in upon itself with a trembendous explosion, expelling enough force to send everyone within fifty feet flying. Buildings already weakened by MetalSeadramon's tidal wave collapsed within seconds. Pallet Town was destroyed beyond recognition, as a wave of destructive psychic energy surged through the sky in the wake of the portal's collapse.

Somewhere else in Kanto, a wormhole leading to the Digimon planet opened on its own accord, as the portal re-formed. Only this time, there were no Digimon within a hundred miles of this gateway.


	9. Scissors In The Fold

**Scissors In The Fold**

Above a darkened computer console, a hologram projector flickered to life. It showed the holographic images of Arukenimon and Mummymon, the joint Intelligence Chiefs of the Digimon Empire, loyal servants of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Apocallymon. The images were currently being scrutinized by a pair of mechanical eyes, belonging to a certain Grand Admiral Datamon. He gave the Intelligence operatives a cold look, and proceeded to speak to their holograms.

"I just finished reading your report. For the fifth time. And it doesn't get any better each time I go through it again. I want answers, now," the admiral grated, crumpling a battered sheet of paper in one of his mechanical hands, "Prove to me that 'Imperial Intelligence' isn't the oxymoron that most other military personnel claim it to be."

"Sir," it was Mummymon, the male half of Intelligence, "May I deliver a logistics report?"

"Eleven Yanmamon, eight Kuwagamon, and three Snimon, all dead. I have the statistics, you dimwit!" Datamon snapped. Despite his impressive career records, the mummified Digimon was still quite a blur, in his opinion.

"Then how about a hit list for humans and Pokemon?" suggested the berated mummy's wife, Arukenimon.

Datamon nodded, and settled into his commandchair. The hologram of his two Intelligence Chiefs was replaced by the image of several humans, along with several Pokemon. Holograms of Arukenimon's and Mummymon's heads appeared on the left and right side of the display, respectively.

"The first human," began Arukenimon, as one of the human's images enlarged itself, "Professor Samuel Oak. A respected academician among the humans, though he owns several battle trained Pokemon," images of a seahorse Pokemon, butterfly Pokemon, and winged lizard Pokemon enlarged themselves under the Professor's image, "I have designated him as Specimen Number 2."

"Next, Ash Ketchum," the enlarged image of a boy in a hat appeared alongside the magnified image of a yellow rodent-like Pokemon, "Young Pokemon trainer of prodigious skill, who is directly responsible for the deaths of more than a hundred Digimon troops, and also Commander MetalSeadramon. He has been designated as Specimen Number 3 ."

"Misty Waterflower," images of a carrot-topped young woman and a starfish Pokemon magnified themselves, "Pokemon trainer and gym leader, also a consort of Ash Ketchum. Considered to be close to Professor Oak. She is Target Number 1, until we acquire a list of more threatening humans."

"Brock Slate," the projector showed the blown-up pictures of a spiky-haired young man with a serpentine mass of rocks, "Gym leader and pokemon trainer, a mentor of sorts for Ash Ketchum. I have designated him as Target Number 2."

The holograms of the humans and Pokemon vanished, and those of the two Intelligence operatives returned. Mummymon rasped, "Our sleeper agent operation has gone well. Specimen Number 1 is primed and ready for deep-ground infiltration operations."

Digimon sleeper agents were members of the species the Digimon were trying to conquer, who had been 'modified' to serve the Digimon Empire. They were mechanically-augmented, what with biotic enhancements being added to their limbs and skeletal systems for exponentially-increased strength, and encrypted mind-control circuitry implanted in their brains. All these additions were vat-grown, and would fool even the most comprehensive medical examinations. The surgical procedures involved were intrusive and risky, so only a few rare specimens survived sleeper agent 'modifications'. Fortunately for the Digimon, their medical science advances allowed them to heal almost any biological problem within hours, so they could in fact churn out sleeper agents by the hour if they wanted to.

The only way to detect the organic bio-circuits would be either a computerized mind probe or a psychic investigation, both of which the humans and their Pokemon were capable of doing. This fact just upped the risk factor, but Intelligence had deemed the situation to be too delicate for any methods other than sleeper agents. And so, the human girl labeled so impersonally as 'Specimen Number 1' had been handed over to the team of Kimeramon surgeons, with orders to turn her into the finest sleeper agent they had ever crafted.

Datamon had read the initial reports from his surgeons, and they weren't that encouraging. He raised a robotic eyebrow, "Her consciousness isn't putting up any resistance to the mind-control circuitry?"

Sleeper agents occasionally managed to overwhelm the mind-control circuitry by a sheer act of will, though this was a one-in-a-million event. In several situations, it had been determined that faulty circuitry was to blame, but in others, the circuitry had been flawless.

"Resistance is random, scattered and ineffective. She is docile by nature, and cannot overwhelm our mental control circuitry with any ease," said Arukenimon in a dismissive tone, "However…"

"Hmm? What is the problem with the girl now?" Datamon was obviously getting impatient – steam was venting out of his ear vents.

"Her personality is rather unique, and can't be successfully emulated by our artificial intelligence. But to let her regain some measure of self-control would be a risk we don't dare to take. But letting her go about with a different personality would blow her cover."

"What about her telling the others that she is traumatized by our bombing of her home continent? Lying shouldn't be a problem for our little spy."

"Possible, but she might be sent for mental therapy with a psychic human and a psychic Pokemon, which would also lead to her _true_ identity being discovered. Unfortunately for us, Kanto has many such therapy facilities available currently."

"So what do you plan to do to remedy this little problem? And you dare to tell me she's ready for _infiltration _operations?"

"We have decided that it's best for her to acquire all known specimens and eliminate all targets for us first, before we 'return' her to the humans. No one familiar with her shall be around to dispute her identity, and none shall be any the wiser as to how she is supposed to behave. And she shall be free to identify key specimens and targets for future reference."

"Very well," Datamon rose out of his seat, mechanical joints popping into place, "Dispatch her, and acquire all of your listed specimens and targets."

"_And targets_, sir?"

"I might have some use for them."

"It shall be done then," Mummymon nodded, leaning heavily on his shotgun-crutch.

As Datamon turned to leave, he heard the tail-end of a whispered conversation between the two Intelligence agents as their holograms faded away.

"What was the little runt's name again?"

"May, I think. May Oak."


	10. Scissors In The Fold 2

**Scissors In The Fold 2**

A human girl felt her mind return to consciousness as she lay on her back in a darkened room. Propping herself up on her arms, she saw that she was in her bedroom, and on her own bed to boot.

'What's happening?' she thought, bewildered. Her bedroom was no longer in existence – it had been destroyed when the Digimon had bombarded the area where she lived. So how did she end up in her bedroom again?

Deciding that she would investigate this puzzling turn of events, she ran out of her bedroom, into the corridor. She ran down the stairs to the first floor, and tried to open the front door. She pulled and pulled on the doorknob, but the door just wouldn't budge.

It was stuck.

Shrugging and now slightly annoyed, the girl tried to push open a window to get out of the house. Only then did she realize that outside the window, only _parts_ of her neighborhood were visible. Some patches in Mrs. Fair's garden were dark and unidentifiable, as were some of the houses further along the row that she'd never really observed.

"What the Hell is going on?!" she screamed, frustrated and confused.

_You have been confined within your own memories._

She paused, "Who's there?! To… Torchic!"

Her left hand dropped to her Pokebelt, but her fingers closed on something that wasn't there. Looking down, she saw that her Pokedex and Pokeballs were all missing.

_You are nothing but a figment of your own memory now._

"Who are you?!"

_I am MCC-66, First Class. Mind-control circuit, state-of-the-art._

"Mind Control? Listen here, you bozo. I don't know who you think you are…"

_The question is… Who do YOU think you are? My control over your mind is absolute._

"You don't expect me to believe that, do you?"

_Very well. I shall prove to you just how absolute my control over you is._

The girl suddenly found herself in an empty playground, with a swing, slide, and several monkey bars. The playground was completely still – not even the leaves in the trees rustled when a breeze came by. No birds chirped, no children laughed. It was just her in an empty place.

"Where is this place?"

_I found it in your memories. You would do well to watch, and learn not to question my authority…_

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, the ghostly, translucent image of a little girl appeared. Recognizing the spectral image as her childhood self, her jaw dropped in wonder. She watched as the her past self ran up to the monkey bars, and climbed-on. The little doppelganger tried to climb to the highest level, and was nearly there by the time she realized what was about to happen.

"NO! Don't climb up there…"

_This is when you broke your arm, isn't it?_ The MCC-thing's voice had a gloating tone to itself.

The little girl had only one more rung to climb before she made it to the highest point of the monkey bars. But exhaustion was clerly-written all over her five-year-old face, as she reached out with a shaky arm to grasp the last rung. She tried to move up from the rung she was on…

And fell, her tired arms giving way before her.

The girl's future self ran forward with a panicked yell, and tried to catch her falling self, but the falling child passed through her arms as though they weren't there. The child then hit the ground with a sickening CRACK! The older girl doubled-over, screaming her lungs out as her right arm exploded into agony that she had long since forgotten. Looking down, she saw her past self lying lifelessly on the ground, one arm twisted at an unnatural angle beneath her torso. Her right arm on her own body, however, was perfectly normal-looking.

"May!" a faint voice – almost like her mother's – cried out, as everything faded into darkness…

xxx

May awoke on the couch in front of her home's television set. The screen was showing a static-filled mess of color, as though the reception to the station had been cut-off.

"Some nightmare…" May muttered, only to shriek in agony as her right arm once again burned with the pain of being fractured.

_It was not a dream. It was a minor piece of your memories, which I dug-up._

"Why are you doing this to me?! What do you want?!"

_Just sit down and watch the television screen._

"Oh yeah? I'm getting out of this nuthouse…"

Before may could go anywhere else, black straps not unlike a car's seat-belts snaked out of the couch's arms and bound her down tightly. The couch's headrests snapped forward and held her head in a position such that she was facing the television screen.

"Can't stop me from closing my eyes…" she whispered under her breath, hoping to be able to fool the MCC-thing that was tampering with her mind.

Apparently, she spoke too soon. Her eyes were forced open on their own accord, and were immediately drawn to the television screen, as the MCC made its presence known again.

_You are NOTHING but a bundle of memories. 'I' am in control now!_

A piece of cloth materialized out of nowhere, and gagged her mouth. She couldn't do anything but watch helplessly as the television screen focused into clarity before her.

_In the next few seconds, you shall see that physical pain is not the only thing I can force you to recall._

The screen showed Max's broken body lying on the ground, dried blood caked around his mouth and nose, and a large piece of a crumbled wall covering his legs. His shattered spectacles lay on the ground beside him, knocked-off his face by the force of his body being crushed by the fallen piece of debris.

Her mother and father, their burnt corpses being thrown off her trembling body as the three Digimon operatives searched for survivors of their bombing run. Her vision had been slightly-blurred by the bright flashes of exploding bombs, and all she saw was a red blur, a blue blur, and an orange blur. For some reason, the orange blur seemed to have horns…

May was now crying and wailing, trying in vain to close her eyes to shield herself from the visual abominations on the screen. The accursed _thing_ in her head let out a sinister laugh as it allowed her to close her eyes, only to forcefully re-create the haunting pictures in her mind's eye. She was now a broken wreck of a girl, crying to herself, babbling incoherently, and trying to curl into a fetal ball.

_Subject is sufficiently traumatized. Mental dominance is ninety-one point oh-two-oh-six percent secure. Banishing subject's conscious mind into subconsciousness now. Catatonia induced successfully. MCC-66-FC entering automatic mode. Orders confirmed._

xxx

Arukenimon and Mummymon watched the computer screens showing them what the human girl was seeing, as they waited for the mind-control circuit to seal its grip on the girl's mind. The spider-like Digimon lady laughed as she saw through the girl's eyes, an image of herself, Mummymon, and a Kuwagamon picking up the injured girl from the devastated remains of Ho-Enn.

A Kimeramon surgeon – the chief surgeon, from the scalpel tatoos on his four spindly arms - approached the duo, "If I may have word with sir and maam, please?"

"Yes?" Mummymon rasped, swiveling his single eye to look at the physically-mutated surgeon.

"The mind-control circuitry is reporting that the girl's brainwaves indicate possible resistance of sufficient magnitude to overwhelm its control. Should I implant a secondary unit?"

"We don't have the time. We need to deploy her within the day," Arukenimon shook her head, "The Grand Admiral's orders…"

"Very well then. I take my leave of you," the surgeon bowed his head, and left them.

xxx

On Earth, a three figures materialized out of thin air in a dense jungle close to the edge of Saffron City. One was a spider-woman Digimon, the second a mummy-like Digimon, and the third a human girl whose body was battered and bruised, but whose eyes glinted with a hint of sinister intentions.

"All specimens and targets are within the building there," Arukenimon said as she waved towards a skyscraper in the middle of town, "You have your orders, so go ahead and finish the job quickly."

Mummymon nodded, "We have an entire continent to subdue, yet."

The human girl nodded mechanically, not speaking a word. She set-off towards Saffron City with a brisk march, almost military-like in manner. The two Digimon watched her retreating back for a few minutes, before teleporting back to Data.

_An hour later..._

In Saffron City, Officer Jenny ran into the Silph Co. building, cradling an unconscious teenage girl in her arms. The girl's body was bruised and wounded all-over, as though she had been through a bashing from a gang of thugs.

"Get the professor! I think I have his granddaughter here!"


	11. Scissors In The Fold 3

**Scissors In The Fold 3**

Ash, Misty, Brock, Gary, Professor Oak, and Tracey were all gathered around a pale, silent girl's bedside. They were in the medical bay of Silph Co.'s headquarters, and Officer Jenny had brought in the girl about an hour ago. She looked as through she had been run through the mill, with bruises, cuts, and wounds all over her body. Professor Oak had been overjoyed to see his granddaughter alive and presumably well, though the fact that she was alone probably was sufficient evidence that her family was dead. She had just returned to consciousness after someone had found her near the Saffron City Pokemon Center, and had already been knocked-out for several hours in the medical bay.

Everyone there was injured in one way or another, courtesy of the Digimon's portal collapsing within close proximity of them. The resulting explosion of psychic energy had sent them all into the air, and only a few of them had been fortunate enough to have a soft landing in some bushes or in a pond. The rest were recovering fast, and were already involved in a group effort to organize an army to storm the Digimon homeworld.

"May, dear," Professor Oak said, in a gentle voice, "How are you?"

"Don't worry, everything's going to be fine," nodded Gary, ruffling his cousin's brown hair.

May remained impassive and motionless, her pale demeanor and behavior giving her the general appearance of a porcelain doll. Everyone who was seated at her bedside waited with baited breath, to see if she would actually speak. Ash, Brock, and Misty had all met May several times before, and Tracey was known to have a slight crush on her. She had seemed a bubbly, intelligent girl to them back when they had met, and the silent creature lying on the bed before them just didn't seem to _be_ May.

Finally, Ash, Misty, and Brock stood up. They had to attend a de-briefing by Officer Jenny, and the recuperating Lieutenant Surge, and so bade farewell to May, Professor Oak, Tracey, and Gary. As soon as they left the room, May's emotionless eyes flicked towards Professor Oak.

Her lips moved slightly, but no audible sounds came forth. She tried again, and actually spoke, her words slightly-slurred, "Gram… Gramd… Grandpa?"

"May!" the overjoyed Professor cautiously embraced her, his excitement mirrored in the eyes of his grandson and lab assistant, "How are you?"

"Lea… The… Leave," she whispered, her eyes darting around wildly. Her shaky voice suggested that she was about to go into a state of shock.

"You want us to leave?" Gary asked, not unkindly.

"Just… Grandpa… Stay… Scared…" her lower lip trembled, and the beginnings of tears could be seen in her eyes.

"It's alright, sweetie pie," Professor Oak said, patting her on the shoulder, "Gary, Tracey, please leave us for a while. I'll be here with her."

The two young men nodded, and left the room. Now, the room was empty save for Professor Oak, May, and several other wounded humans and Pokemon. For a moment, May remained silent, the only sounds in the room being those of medical equipment and other injured people and Pokemon. She reached out and clasped her grandfather's hand in hers.

"Are you alright-"

"Save it, pathetic human," May spoke with crystal-clear words, her tone malevolent. Hate was in her usually-beautiful brown eyes.

"Wha- You're not May!" Professor Oak gasped, taken aback. He tried to wrench his arm free from her grip, but she only squeezed tighter.

Deciding that this May impersonator was definitely a dangerous Digimon agent, Professor Oak made a lunge for the emergency alarm button on the wall above the headrest of the bed 'May' was occupying. A sharp tug on his captured hand prevented him from reaching the button, and he was soon face-down on the floor, with one of 'May's' feet planted firmly on his back.

"Specimen number 2, acquired," the _thing_ said, in a voice so cold and emotionless it could have been a robot speaking. Professor Oak felt a sharp stinging sensation on the side of his neck, and his vision blurred as he slipped out of consciousness.

xxx

May burst into fresh tears as she watched her grandfather get tranquilized with her own hands, through the television screen she was bound in front of. Currently, _it_ didn't bother talking to her anymore, and she was alone in a dark room, with only the disgusting television to keep her company. She hadn't heard the terrifying mechanical voice in hours, or so it seemed. She had no idea just how much time had passed since she had become a prisoner of her mind's own subconscious state.

In the middle of a sobbing fit, she realized that a curious, rhythmic sound was just barely-audible in the background. She decided to maintain her tearful appearance, if only to deceive the MCC-thing which had assumed control of her mind.

As she listened carefully, making sure to keep the tears flowing, she heard a LOT of interesting things. And she swore to herself that when she got the chance, she was going to make the Digimon pay for what they had made her do as their unwilling puppet.

xxx

Gary and Tracey heard several muffled gasps and thumps in the medical bay as they returned from the Silph building's cafeteria, each of them now holding a steaming cup of black coffee. Gary tried to open the door, only to find that it was jammed.

"Open the door, Gary," Tracey said, blowing steam off his cup of coffee.

"It's stuck," Gary tried again, and frowned, "Help me push it, will ya?"

Tracey placed his coffee cup on the floor, and assisted Gary in trying to push the stubborn door open. Out of the blue, it was yanked open from the _inside_, and they both fell flat on their faces. Tracey accidentally kicked-over his cup of coffee, and yelped as the hot liquid scalded his sandal-clad feet.

Gary was the first to look up, and he saw May standing in front of them, holding a stainless-steel drip-hanger in her hands. Behind her were numerous human and Pokemon bodies on the blood-splattered floor, each in varying states of dismemberment. He was stunned for a moment, but recovered his wits in a moment.

"May! What the Hell are you doing?!" not his most articulate sentence ever, but it was all his panicked brain could process at the moment.

"Irrelevant humans," was May's cold reply, "Eliminating now."

"The Hell?!" Tracey cursed, "You're not May!"

"You are correct, pathetic human."

Gary was too shocked to do anything as she swung the drip-hanger towards his head with frightening speed. Tracey yanked him out of the medical equipment's way with a yell, and it shattered the ceramic floor tiles when it missed his skull. The two of them backed-out into the corridor, and each drew a Pokeball. The creature that looked like May walked calmly through the doorway, still clad in a hospital gown.

"Stand down. I shall make this quick and painless," droned 'May', stalking towards them in a crouched position, holding the drip-hanger like a warrior would a staff.

"Dream on, witch! Go, Haunter!" Gary retorted, releasing the gas-bodied Ghost Pokemon, "Hypnosis!"

Tracey had released his own Pokemon, too, "Shellder, Confuse Ray!"

'May' dodged both of the incoming Psychic attacks, and sent Shellder flying with a vicious swing of the drip-hanger that would have made any professional golfer proud. The sheer force behind the swing cracked the bivalve Pokemon's shell, and sent it right through the corridor's cheap plasterboard wall. The cross-eyed Pokemon then disappeared under a landslide of falling books as it finally impacted upon the base of a bookshelf.

Haunter fired several more Hypnosis beams at 'May', but with superhuman speed and reflexes, she threw Gary in the way of one of the beams, and doled-out a powerful kick to his back as soon as the beam sent him to sleep. The slumbering teenager flew into the medical bay through the open doorway, and collapsed in a heap on the bloodied floor. While 'May' was kicking Gary, Tracey ran up to her, and slapped her across the face with a resounding CRACK!

"Snap out of it, May!" he yelled, causing several people to come running out of the various rooms lining the corridor. Some carried firearms, and some were already gripping enlarged Pokeballs.

The thing's neck turned slightly, but it recovered within a split second, grabbing a fistful of Tracey's greenish hair. With a soft grunt, she hefted him into the air, and punched him in the gut and chest, all within a moment. Several ribs could be heard cracking under her fist and Tracey coughed out blood, but she threw him into the wall before anyone else could do anything.

xxx

Downstairs, Ash, Misty, Brock, Officer Jenny, Lieutenant Surge and Sabrina had their meeting suddenly interrupted by the sound of gunshots from the floor above, as well as blood-curling screams and various Pokemon attacks. The ceiling above their heads shook now-and-then, as if an entire herd of Tauros was stampeding upstairs.

Silencing her companions with a raised hand, Sabrina reached-out with her psychic senses, only to 'see' a wave of death and suffering. She released her Kadabra, as she stood up.

"Something evil is upstairs," she said, her voice cold, "Something that is both human and inhuman."

"May!" said Ash, Brock, and Misty in unison, as the idea suddenly struck them.

They rushed out of the conference room, and up the stairs.

The scene that greeted them as they made it to the upstairs floor was indeed a nauseating one.

Blood and body parts were splattered everywhere in the corridor, even on the walls and ceiling. Dead humans and Pokemon were sprawled on the floor, draped over doors, or even halfway through a wall. One Machoke had been killed with a gold-plated letter opener that was now sticking out of its mouth, and a woman with a pistol in her hands was literally twisted into an impossible position – her legs were twined around her neck.

"What… What the…" was all Misty could manage before she threw-up on the expensive red carpet that covered the corridor's floor.

"Check the medical bay!" said Brock, realizing something important.

Not questioning Brock's reasons, the five of them walked cautiously through the gory maze on the floor, and entered the medical bay. They saw a slumped Gary on the floor with a scalpel in his back, and a scene not dissimilar to the one in the corridor. Only this time, the humans and Pokemon had been murdered with surgical instruments and even bedpans.

At the far end of the room, 'May' was standing in front of a large hydrotherapy tank, with Professor Oak floating inside. Her hospital gown was liberally stained with blood, and her otherwise pretty visage was marred by streaks of gore and other substances. A maniacal grin was on her face, exposing teeth that were red with blood of an unknown origin. In her hands was a fireman's axe, no doubt taken from the corridor's emergency cabinet.

"Greetings, _fellow_ humans," 'May' laughed, taking a mock bow, "How pleasurable to finally meet all my specimens and targets together."

"You Digimon scum!" hissed Officer Jenny, "How dare you use this girl's body like this?!"

"I have no time for idle banter, my dear Officer," said 'May' sweetly, "I am here to accomplish my mission, and nothing more. This vessel is but temporary for me, hahaha…"

"Release May now!" yelled Ash, as Pikachu leaped onto his shoulder, cheeks sparking.

"Ah, the infamous _rodent_," sneered the Digimon agent, a look of disdain on its face, "The very one which killed Commander MetalSeadramon and over a hundred of our troops. Commendable, but all the more desirable as a specimen."

"You wicked, evil…" Brock began, only to be cut-off by the bone-chilling laughter from 'May'.

It stopped its laughter, and gestured to a tray on the floor in front of it, "I knew that slaying the entire floor's residents would lure you up here. Now, make my job easier, and take a pill each from the tray."

Jenny narrowed her eyes, as she drew her service revolver, "Those are sleeping pills! What are you planning to do?!"

"Nothing involving you, my dear officer. Now, the rest of you, excluding the strange woman with the purple clothes, take a pill each and eat it. Now!" 'May' finished her sentence with a snarl.

"You are raving," replied Sabrina, in her usual icy tone.

"Heck yeah!" shouted Ash, crouching low with his Pikachu still on his shoulder, "No way we'll surrender to the Digimon Empire!"

'May' cocked her head to one side, her eyes glassy and her mouth showing a slight smile, "Then I have no choice."

With an animalistic roar, she jumped towards them, throwing the tray of sleeping pills at Officer Jenny. The tray was deflected with a single bullet, but the creature dodged the shot, and slashed through Jenny's chest with the already-bloodstained axe. The policewoman crumpled to the floor, dead, with her ribcage cut wide open.

Sabrina sent a psychic wave at the attacking Digimon agent, only to have the thing roll on the floor and take-out her Kadabra's legs with a swipe of its axe. The fox-like Pokemon fell to the floor in shock, and was dispatched into the afterlife with a deadly punch to its throat. Before Sabrina could teleport out of the way, she received a powerful slap on her face that knocked her out.

Pikachu's thundershocks missed 'May', and the little Pokemon was knocked-off Ash's shoulder with a spinning kick even before Sabrina's unconscious form had hit the floor. Ash himself dropped like a stone as he received the flat of the axe's blade to his head, and Brock was rendered unconscious when his Geodude was kicked into him with sufficient force to dent the wall where the two of them hit it.

Only Misty and here Starmie were left standing, and the dangerous thing that had once been a human girl named May leered at her, holding the axe with one hand. The other hand was holding a scalpel that had been wrenched out of Gary's back – Gary had been kicked aside by 'May' during the brief struggle. The thing cackled at her, and dropped the axe, daring her to make the first move.

The next thing she new, the thing had thrown the scalpel at her, and Starmie deflected the blade with a Bubblebeam attack. With the room now obscured by copious amounts of bubbles and ocean mist, neither Misty nor her loyal Pokemon could see if 'May' was close.

"Careful Starmie," whispered Misty, crouching behind the large starfish Pokemon, "She's gonna strike when we least expect it…"

The words has just left her mouth when 'May' jumped onto Starmie, and cracked its core crystal with a forceful punch. The thing then twisted one of Starmie's points until it snapped-off, causing the Pokemon to screech in pain. Before Misty or Starmie could do anything in retaliation, Misty was clubbed in the head with Starmie's broken-off point, and the large Pokemon felled with a fireman's axe to its already abused core.

Deftly leaping off the Pokemon's body, 'May' surveyed the damage she had done. Grabbing Misty's arms, she dragged the unconscious trainer up to the hydrotherapy tank, and emptied a syringe of tranquilizer into her prone body. It repeated the exercise with the other humans and Pokemon, and placed them all in the tank.

Finally, it opened its telepathic bond with Arukenimon, "Mission accomplished."


	12. Retrieval

**Retrieval**

Lieutenant Surge could not believe what he saw through his one working eye (the other having been blinded by a stray piece of shrapnel during the failed Defense of Vermillion City). The security cameras on the floor above him showed the girl who was supposedly Professor Oak's granddaughter butchering and incapacitating every living thing before her, with unnaturally-high speed and deadliness. She had then killed Officer Jenny and disabled all the others who had tried to investigate the disturbances from upstairs.

He had alerted his security forces, and turned back to his monitors. Currently, the girl was dragging all her unconscious victims into a service elevator in the back of the medical wing. Surge's mind jump-started as he struggled to recall the precise blueprints he had studied when his base of operations had been shifted to the Silph Co. headquarters. The girl was by now dragging her last victim – the unconscious Sabrina – into the elevator, the steel doors sliding shut behind her.

His eyes widened, as his weary mind finally remembered where the three-tonne service elevator went from the medical wing. It led to the rooftop of the building, and its doors opened directly next to the helipad. It had a stop there in case of severe medical emergencies which might have required the expertise and technology only available at the Silph Co. headquarters. Changing the camera views on his monitors, he saw that the helipad had a large shadow cast upon it, and the object providing the shadow was _definitely_ _not_ Silph Co.'s large transmission antenna.

"SON OF A BITCH!" he slammed his fist onto his intercom, "GANESH! SHUT-DOWN THE SERVICE ELEVATOR IN THE MEDICAL WING, NOW!"

"It is being done, sir," replied his Intelligence chief in a maddeningly-calm voice, "May I know why?"

"You know the crazy witch who slaughtered everyone on the medical floor?"

"Yes?" the spy's tone suggested that his hand was straying to the service revolver at his hip.

"She's in the service elevator, and she's headed for the _roof_."

"Understood, sir," the intercom went dead with an ominous hiss of static.

xxx

'May' was only mildly surprised when the elevator stopped moving, about one floor beneath the rooftop. After all, MCC-FC-66 had anticipated that the humans would try this very counter-measure, and hence had prepared for the setback. With a split-second jump kick, it popped-open the elevator's maintenance hatch, and looked upwards – the rooftop doors were only five feet above the stalled elevator.

Grabbing the knocked-out Professor and Ash, it jumped out of the elevator car, and climbed up the cables that stopped close to its rooftop destination. It cut the doors open using a mini laser that had been integrated into May's right arm, and threw the two unmoving humans out onto the roof.

And it went back down, to pick up the rest of its acquired specimens and targets.

xxx

Ganesh Prakash stood behind five rows of crack troops, his Alakazam at his side, as they approached the stopped elevator. One of the troops rushed forward, and withdrew a key card from a pocket, prying open the elevator's concealed control panel. The rest of the troops got into their designated combat positions – fifteen assault rifles and eight machine-guns were trained on the elevator's doors.

The private near the doors slid his keycard through the elevator's control panel, and the doors opened…

Twenty-three soldiers felt their trigger-fingers abruptly stiffen…

To see that the elevator was… empty.

As all sorts of disgruntled noises were heard, Ganesh's headphones came to life with Surge's voice, "She's on the roof! And she's got all of them with her!"

The troops, utterly bewildered at the sight of their commander and his Pokemon running up the stairs to the roof, only followed a second later.

xxx

"Dear, you've performed wonderfully," crooned Arukenimon, as she watched 'May' load the human and Pokemon specimens into the Digimon drop-ship that had landed on the helipad. The matte-black ship had several charred markings on its hull from human defenses, but was otherwise fully operational and battle-ready, "Now finish loading them up, and we'll head back to Data."

"Not so fast, spider-wench," came a human voice from behind Arukenimon. The Digimon whipped around, to see a human in a wheelchair and numerous others flanking him. Another of the psychic Pokemon that had collapsed the portal was also there, its eyes glowing with latent power.

"Ah, _Surge_," rumbled Mummymon, stepping out of the drop-ship, "The incompetent human defense chief. I am dishonored by your presence."

"Shut up, you alien trash!" snapped the battle-scarred human, leaning forward in his wheelchair, "Let them go, and surrender. I'll consider being merciful if you follow my simple instructions, NOW!"

Mummymon wordlessly boarded the dropship, and started its engines. With a nod from Ganesh Prakash, the Alakazam present there extended a psychic barrier over the ship, preventing it from lifting-off. Arukenimon was still standing beside the drop-ship's open hatch, and morphed into her humanoid form.

"Such a shame, that you fools have to force my hand like this," she huffed, as she took a step into the dropship, "Come, SkullMeramon!"

A blur of blue flame shot out of the drop-ship's hatch, as the humans and Ganesh's Alakazam scrambled for cover. The blur completed a circuit of the helipad's edge within the blink of an eye, and stopped abruptly, revealing itself to be a humanoid clad in a set of leather clothes and bound with chains all over its body. The creature was totally engulfed in a blue flame, and a metal mask covered its face.

"This is one of my subordinates, SkullMeramon," said Arukenimon from the hatch she was closing, "I'm sure any information he extracts from you infidels will be interesting enough. Now, goodbye!"

The drop-ship lifted-off, Alakazam's psychic barrier having been removed when the Pokemon ran out of the pyromaniac Digimon's way. Before any of the humans or the newly released Pokemon could do anything, the Digimon vessel had gained altitude, and was now but a speck in the cloudless sky, holding within its dark confines several humans and their Pokemon.

Soon enough, a coughing sound attracted their attention, and the humans and Pokemon turned towards the burning Digimon standing near the elevator's doors. The creature was holding a flaming chain in each gigantic fist, and stood taller than the seven-foot-tall doors behind it. Smoke billowed out of the tears in its jacket, and it finally poke up in a voice that was not unlike that of a chain-smoker with lung cancer.

"Targets assessed," wheezed the Digimon, stretching its back with several popping sounds, "Commencing annihilation."

The fiendish monstrosity ran forward in a flurry of dancing bluebell fire. Gunshots were heard, but none of them seemed to affect the creature, as the bullets merely passed through him. SkullMeramon cleared a path of flaming death in his wake as he ran _through_ Surge's men, scorching all that he touched into a lifeless mass of cinders. His whip-like chains caught several dazed troops around their necks, easily relieving them of their heads.

Finally, the creature stopped its rampage, and only Surge was left standing (actually, sitting would have been a more appropriate term). Every single one of his subordinates was now a pile of ashes or a headless corpse on the floor. The Digimon flexed its over-sized muscles, and spoke to him in a gloating voice, "Do you surrender, human?"

Before Surge could answer (and thus insult the Digimon's Emperor, mother, father, siblings, and God), a blast of freezing cold energy engulfed the Digimon from behind. It let out a hair-raising screech that was almost metallic, and whipped around to face its new enemies. It never got to see who had attacked it, however, as another blast of icy waves hit it dead-on.

Through the Digimon's disintegrating body and vanishing flames, Surge saw four shadows – one slender, one bulky, one stooped, and one caped.

Lorelei of the Elite Four stepped forward, her Jynx following her, "Surge. It's been a while since we've met."

Lance then stepped forward, "We have initiated Emergency Defensive five-one-three. The 'Freedom Fighter' is coming here as I speak."

Surge's face broke into a weary smile, as he saluted Kanto's Elite Four, "Lieutenant Surge, reporting for duty!"

Bruno merely grunted in response, while Agatha cackled her witch's laugh.

"Where are we headed, sir?" Surge asked Lance, as a large and dark shape approached from the general direction of Mount Moon.

"Why, the Digimon homeworld, of course," Lance replied casually, "After all, their collapsed portal DID reform itself right in front of Indigo Plateau."


	13. Into The Darkness

**Into The Darkness**

Ash felt like shit. To say otherwise would be a lie, a horrible understatement. His entire body was unresponsive to his commands, and his mind practically turned into meatloaf by the foul serum 'May' had injected him with. His vision was blurry, but from what he could make out, he was in a dark chamber, and strapped to the wall at that. He had no idea how long he had been locked-up, and also no idea where he was. For all he knew, he could have been back at the Silph Co. headquarters, in a broom closet.

The chamber he was in opened, and he saw a blurred shadow in front of him, surrounded by dim light. The figure reached out towards him, and gave him a sharp slap to the face.

As his vision adjusted to the light, he saw the spider-like Digimon named Arukenimon standing in the doorway to his chamber. The arachnid creature scrutinized him with her many glowing eyes, and smiled the smile of a sadist.

"Ah, the subject is awake," she crooned, stroking his cheek with a clammy claw, causing him to try and recoil out of disgust, "But your body isn't, HAH! My little cocktail will keep those limbs of yours immobile for the next few minutes, at the very least. Welcome to my detention cellblock, by the way."

Ash tried to speak, but could only manage to stutter several incomprehensible words.

Arukenimon screeched with laughter, "Are you deaf? _Every_ voluntary action you could perform is currently way beyond your limits, thanks to that injection which MCC-FC-66 gave you."

She noticed his curious look, and threw her head back, cackling, "MCC-FC-66 is a Mind Control Circuit, First Class. He has been in your dear little May's head since we dug her out of the ruins of Sinnoh, pulling her strings to bring you all to us!"

"Wha… Why… You bitch!" was all Ash could manage to slur, before Arukenimon gave him yet another slap.

"SILENCE!" she screeched, "You wouldn't want me to hurt you _or_ your precious girlfriend here, would you?"

Seeing Ash's defiant look, Arukenimon turned to May, "Slap yourself ten times. Hard."

Ash could only watch helplessly and in horror, as May obediently dealt ten vicious slaps to her own face, a puppet within her own body. Blood squirted out of her nose, and a tooth fell out of her mouth when she finally stopped her self-abuse. She showed no signs of pain, and stood up straight, staring blankly at the wall.

Arukenimon hovered nearby, and gloated, "Such a shame. Do you know what MCC-FC-66 has told me? About her? About you?" she scuttled up to Ash, and whispered into his ear, "About the _two_ of you?"

Finally feeling his lips lose some of their numbness, he slurred, "What… What you know…"

"Oh, just that the girl _loves_ you," said Arukenimon, slapping one of her eight knees while she laughed, "And that you never showed any signs of reciprocating her feelings! KYA HAHA HAHA!"

Stunned, Ash turned to May, who was now standing in the corner of the chamber they were in. She seemed to be struggling to keep her emotions under control – maybe the Mind Control thingie the Digimon had implanted in her was holding them in check. He had never known she had felt this way for him. Had he known, maybe…

"Would you like to see May for real?" asked Arukenimon, grinning her shark's grin, "MCC-FC-66, release hold on subject for ten seconds."

"Request denied," replied the girl, her voice cold and mechanical, "Subject is currently applying severe amounts of resistance to the mental interface. Safety Level 4 requirements compromised – release not authorized."

Arukenimon walked up to May, and slapped her across the face, hard. Blood from the self-abuse earlier got smeared on her claws, and she wiped her appendages clean on May's hospital gown, snarling in her face, "_I _wrote the rules, you idiot! Emergency Override Alpha, Arukenimon!"

May fell to her knees on the floor, as Arukenimon backed away, snickering. The stunned human girl gaped at Ash from the floor, and her mouth opened and closed wordlessly. Finally, she tried to rise, but fell flat on her face. Arukenimon strode casually up to her prone form, and kicked her in the ribs, hard.

"Do you understand now, _Ash_?" she sneered, her voice oozing arrogance, "You were betrayed by this pathetic husk of a girl! We… _will…_ win!"

"Over my dead body," said a loud voice, from behind Arukenimon. The spider-like Digimon whirled around, and received a solid punch to the face from May, which sent her into the wall. She hit the metallic plates with a dull THUNK! And fell to the floor, her eight legs tangled in a heap. May spat on the floor, "Did you think that your MCC was _that_ good at controlling me? I can overwhelm it, now."

"HOW DARE YOU!" screeched the Digimon, as she untangled her limbs, "HOW DARE YOU!"

May ripped-out Ash's wrist restraints from the wall using her bare hands, and rushed towards Arukenimon, who was now wielding a three-sectioned staff that she had conjured out of thin air.

"HUMAN FILTH!" roared the Digimon, as she rushed forward, swinging her staff dangerously.

May sidestepped the blow, and executed a spinning kick aimed at the Digimon's back. The kick hit only air, as she received a faceful of Arukenimon's staff. The door to the detention cellblock hissed open, and Mummymon ran in, brandishing his shotgun like a club. Upon seeing the fighting females, he immediately leveled the long firearm at May.

"Oh no, you don't!" a yellow ball of furry energy slammed into Mummymon's back, sending him sprawling on the floor. The corpse-like Digimon started to convulse as electricity surged through his body, courtesy of the angry Pikachu on his back. His bandaged body started to smell of smoke, and then caught fire soon enough after his shock therapy began.

Ash ran towards May, who was now engaged in a grapple with Arukenimon, who was now fighting bare-handed, having abandoned her staff.

He picked up the dropped staff, and brought it down on Arukenimon's head. It hit with a CRACK! and the Digimon collapsed to the floor, an override code for May's Mind Control chip halfway out of her mouth.

He barely managed to catch May before she fell to the ground, bruised and exhausted. Her nose had been broken by Arukenimon's staff, and her right arm had been stripped of some skin, revealing cybernetic components inside her.

"May…"

"Ash," she replied, her voice soft and her expression deathly pale, "I'm so sorry…"

"No need to apologize," he snapped, smoothing her hair back, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I couldn't… The circuit…"

"I meant your feelings."

"Oh…" she sighed, "I thought that it was one-sided on my behalf… Never thought that you'd return them…"

"How did you know…" Ash said, swallowing hard, "That I didn't feel the same for you, myself?"

"…"

"May, I've always liked you, ever since we met. But only recently did I realize my true feelings for you," he said, his face solemn, "I thought that I had lost you, when Sinnoh was destroyed. But Gary's Alakazam told me that you were still alive, so I had some hope yet…"

Before either human could say anything more, they were cut-off by Ash's unconscious Pikachu flying into the wall. They whipped around, and saw a burnt and enraged Mummymon limping towards them, murder in his single eye.

"How touching," he rasped, "Such a shame that we are mere minutes from Data, and that I'll have to interrupt this _romantic_ reunion."

Ash leapt to his feet, and grabbed a Pokeball, "Go, Charizard!"

His gigantic, dragon-like Pokemon materialized, and immediately spewed a column of flame at Mummymon. The Digimon vanished into thin air, and reappeared behind Ash. He slammed his fist into Ash's back, and the boy fell to the floor, groaning in pain.

"MCC-FC-66!" boomed Mummymon, as he loaded his shotgun, "Resume mental control and enter combat mode! Emergency Override Alpha, Mummymon!"

For a second, May jumped to her feet and stood at attention, seemingly in accordance with Mummymon's commands. Then she fell to her knees, gritting her teeth and growling in anger. Before he knew what had happened, Mummymon was swept-off his feet with a kick from May. The bullet intended for Charizard exploded when it hit the ceiling, causing shrapnel to rain down upon the deck.

"Release all prisoners," said May in a screeching voice not unlike Arukenimon's, now walking towards Mummymon, who was rushing towards her, "Emergency Override Alpha, Arukenimon."

The cell doors all slid open, along the detention cellblock. Brock, Misty, Sabrina, and Professor Oak rushed out, their Pokemon hot on their heels. They surrounded Mummymon, who had backed himself into a corner. The Intelligence agent's eye was glowing red with fury, as he leaned on his shotgun.

"Fools…" he hissed, glaring at them, his eye suddenly reverting to its usual shade of amber, "Fools…"

"Who's the fool now, Mummymon?" retorted Misty, her Staryu right behind her, "Who's the one trapped now, huh?"

"That would be you," came a response from behind everyone.

Everyone turned around, and saw a four-legged, machine-like Digimon with a glass-covered head standing at the cellblock's doorway, accompanied by eight spherical, blue-colored Digimon which were hovering in the air. The eight of them wielded wicked-looking tridents, and were grinning maniacally as their mechanical leader stepped forward. Behind _them_ were a crowd of humanoid Digimon clad in samurai armor, who brandished gleaming sabers.

"I am Grand Admiral Datamon, of his Imperial Majesty Apocallymon's Army," said the leader Digimon, baring rows of metal fangs in a grotesque variant of a smile, "Welcome to Data."


	14. Earth Strikes Back

**Earth Strikes Back**

Ash, Misty, Brock, and Professor Oak were all in Datamon's personal interrogation chamber, and were chained to the floor parallel to each other. They had been detained, but May had escaped, after promising that she'll be back to release them. Three of the samurai Digimon accompanying Datamon had been killed by her during her escape, and four of the spherical trident-wielding Digimon had been rendered unconscious.

"… I'm only going to ask you once more," said Datamon, as he looked down upon the four humans that had been delivered to him, "Will you unconditionally surrender? I guarantee your lifelong comfort and security if you should do so, with work benefits, too."

"Liar," spat Brock, from where he was chained face-down to the floor, "You want to enslave we humans and Pokemon, that's all!"

"It sounds so… _harsh_ if you say it that way," said Datamon dismissively, as he stepped roughly on Brock's back, "You humans have only been in contact with my kind for a week or so, and yet, you've been the biggest thorn in our side since the DigiDestined."

"DigiDestined?" asked Professor Oak, "Weren't they humans, too?"

All the Digimon in the interrogation chamber found their eyes widening in surprise at the old man's words. How could a human know about the DigiDestined? The DigiDestined were from centuries ago! It was impossible, for a human to know that they were actually human!

Datamon stepped up to Professor Oak, "How did you know that?! They were centuries before your time!"

"Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it," quoted Professor Oak, with a wan smile, "So I made it my business to study the past between our two races. After all, I'm sure you monsters did your research before engaging with us, yes?"

"You cursed infidel!" yelled Datamon, as he cuffed Professor Oak across the face, drawing blood, "Tell me everything you know about the DigiDestined, NOW!"

"Never," replied the Professor, in a prim-and-proper tone that seemed completely inappropriate, given the situation.

Datamon backed away from him, and gestured to something concealed the darkness around them. A spider-like Digimon came forward, its foremost pair of legs scratching at its helmet-covered head. Datamon pointed at Professor Oak, and the creature scuttled forward, until it was straddling the Professor's back.

"Maybe my little friend here will manage to loosen your tongue," spat Datamon, "Dokugumon, get to work!"

The spider-like Digimon clicked its fanged maw shut, and nodded. Opening wide, it started to drool profusely onto Professor Oak's back. The viscous, acid-green fluid that oozed out of its hollow fangs let out a foul stench, and burnt through the Professor's lab coat where it dripped onto his back. Soon enough, the Professor let out a cry of pain, as his back was touched by the arachnid's caustic saliva.

"Now," said Datamon, as he polished the transparalon dome that encased his computerized mind, "What do you know about the DigiDestined?"

"Don't tell them, Professor!" cried Ash, only to be silenced with a powerful blow to the back of his head from the Tekkamon that was hovering behind him.

"I won't tell you," hissed Professor Oak through gritted teeth, "Torture won't help you get any answers from me!"

"Professor, you aren't that young anymore!" snapped Misty, "Just give him what he wants!"

Datamon cocked his head to one side, "My, my. What a smart girl we have here! You really should listen to her, my dear Professor…"

By now, Professor Oak's back looked as though it had been set upon by a swarm of rabid moths and bees. Blood oozed out of numerous chemical burns, and his eyes were almost rolling upwards in their sockets, showing only the whites. Datamon summoned another Digimon, which resembled a pink fairy with wings.

"MarineAngemon, heal him," ordered Datamon, "External wounds only. Leave the innards alone."

The fairy-like Digimon's eyes glowed with a scarlet light, and Professor Oak was engulfed in a brilliant red light. When the light faded away, his back and lab coat looked as good as new. But his expression hadn't changed, and it was obvious that he was still enduring a great amount of pain.

"This would really be more convenient if you would co-operate," chided Datamon, shaking his head, "Come, Raremon!"

A gelatinous mass of flesh slid into view, reeking of something that seemed to be cross between feces and decay. It surveyed the room with two misshapen eyes, which were held in place on its shape-shifting face by several metal staples. Clouds of greenish gas drifted out of its mouth – a hole with several jagged shards of metal sewn to the edges to resemble teeth.

Datamon patted the disgusting creature on its head, causing it to let out a sound not unlike that of rending metal, "This is Raremon. If you do not co-operate with me this time, I shall make him eat you."

"No…" groaned Professor Oak, only to be cut-off by Sabrina.

"I'll give you the information from his mind," she said, in an icy voice, "If you promise to call off your foul pet."

"Go on, dear," said Datamon. Raremon still sat by his side, but had now closed its mouth. The pungent green gas from earlier was still leaking out of his mouth at its corners.

The others tried to glare at Sabrina, but she silenced all of them with a look, "Datamon isn't joking nor is he making empty threats. He meant everything he said."

Datamon sat down on a small chair that appeared out of thin air, as he gave Sabrina an interested look, "The information, please?"

"The DigiDestined were eight human children from the twentieth century," she replied, "They made several trips to the Digimon world, through several portals that sent them here by chance."

"They each had a Digimon partner, and together, the sixteen of them traveled all-over the planet, saving lives and fighting evil."

"When they returned to Earth eventually, they were incarcerated in mental institutions for suspected psychosis. They had spent too long on this world, and of course, no one believed them when they spoke of their visits to another world."

"So our agents were successful," laughed Datamon, drawing a shocked look from Sabrina, "Arukenimon and Mummymon did succeed in getting those brats out of the way, after all!"

"You KNEW that they were admitted into asylums?!" shouted Brock, "What kind of sicko are you? They were children, for God's sake!"

"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing," hissed Datamon, "We did what we had to in order to keep our existence secret, at least until it was time to conquer your planet. All we did was make them speak the truth... And they were treated as if they were insane, HAH!"

To the horror of all the humans in the room, Datamon brought up images of several human children in mid-air. There were five boys and three girls, all shown with a certain Digimon by their side. The images had clearly been taken a long time ago – even as holograms, they were blurred and fading.

"Taichi. Sora. Hikari. Matt. TK. Joe. Izzy. Mimi," said the Digimon Grand Admiral, "Agumon. Biyomon. Gatomon. Gabumon. Patamon. Gomamon. Tentomon. Palmon. Dangerous enemies, all of them. They killed many loyal servants of Lord Apocallymon."

His eyes narrowed dangerously, "Even me…"

"Don't be ridiculous!" retorted Ash, "You're still standing here! How could they have killed you?!"

"We Digimon exist as manifestations of digital data," replied Datamon, waving a mechanical arm dismissively, "We cannot die, unless our source data is deciphered and deleted while we are dead. Of course, no one has found our source data before, not even Lord Apocallymon."

"And now, for the highlight of the day!" he announced, almost cheerfully, "Raremon, eat the old man. He's all yours!"

"WHAT?!" Misty screeched, "You promised-"

"You really are too trusting," scoffed Datamon, as the slimy creature trudged towards Professor Oak.

The other humans in the room closed their eyes, and tried to not see what happened after that. But they still heard the screams.

xxx

"All systems, locked-and-loaded," reported Surge, from his command chair on the bridge of the 'Freedom Fighter'. All around him, groups of humans and Pokemon worked with military-like efficiency, at numerous stations.

The 'Freedom Fighter' was a human-built spacecraft, which was capable of faster-than-light travel. Twelve kilometers long, five across, and two in height, she was indeed a behemoth, a leviathan of the skies which represented the pinnacle of human engineering. She was armed with eighty laser cannons, fifty missile silos, and also twenty torpedo launchers, and was also equipped with shielding technology that could theoretically repel an ion storm. When she flew, her streamlined, Lugia-like shape obscured the sky, and those humans who hid their homes, fearing the Digimon invasion, could only gape at her seemingly never-ending hull as she passed over them.

Currently, she was flying a hundred feet above Indigo Plateau, in front of the Elite Four's battle arena. A glowing, pulsating circle of energy was just a few kilometers ahead of the 'Freedom Fighter', and her crew was about to send her through the gateway to the Digimon homeworld. The portal was a distorted thing, about twenty-nine kilometers in diameter, and was randomly opening and closing.

"Surge, are Gary and Tracey ready?" asked Lance, as he strode onto the bridge deck.

"Everyone's ready," responded the Lieutenant, as he saluted Lance, "Permission to commence with the operation?"

"Granted," cackled Agatha, as she stepped onto the bridge, accompanied by her Gengar.

"Fire the engines on my Mark," Surge squinted at his control console, "Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Mark!"

Eight gargantuan hyperdrive engines flared to life, and the 'Freedom Fighter' flew towards the portal, which had closed. As soon as her bow hit the gateway, gigantic bolts of electricity exploded out of the energy circle. She pushed-on forward, and this time, the portal opened for her.

Those on the ground watched as the ship above them disappeared through the portal, which looked as though someone had ripped open a gaping tear in the sky. The ship disappeared through the gateway, and soon, it closed again, of its own accord.

xxx

Working in Digimon Security was rather dull, but it was nonetheless a well-paying job. Most of the time, you would be watching a hundred video monitors all at once, and NOTHING would be out of the ordinary on any of them. So when the alarm suddenly sounded, Officer Vademon's reactions were understandable, given that he hadn't reported any emergencies within the last three centuries or so.

"What in the seventh circle of Hell?" he swore, watching through his video monitors as a large, unidentified flying object appeared out of the portal that had opened suddenly, just eighty kilometers away from Neo File City.

When the craft came closer to the city, he saw the words 'Freedom Fighter' emblazoned on its side. His security drones zoomed-in on the craft's apparent bridge, and he saw innumerable humans and Pokemon there. Almost reflexively, his hand keyed-in the emergency distress code, and in the city beneath his security outpost, he heard the emergency klaxons start to sound.

He activated his communications console, and opened a channel to Admiral Raidenmon. The Admiral picked-up immediately, and spoke before he could say anything, "Activate all defensive systems. Mobilize the troops. We are NOT taking chances on this one."

xxx

Surge, Lance, and Agatha watched the Digimon megapolis grow larger in their viewscreens, as they came within kilometers of the black superstructure. The Digimon city was nothing more than a kilometer-tall cluster of spires and towers that stuck out of the ground, with eight plate-like segments sticking out of its midsection. Beneath the plates were what looked like factories and industrial areas, hidden within the shadows of the city above them. Overall, the city looked like a hideous artificial mushroom of some sort, but with more potrusions above its 'cap'.

"Hideous!" said Agatha, shuddering. That city seemed to radiate an aura of evil and destruction.

"Sir, incoming!" shouted one of their crew members.

Everyone on the bridge immediately glanced at the nearest viewscreens, and saw a seeming cloud of black objects flying towards them, on a collision course with their current vector. As they drew closer, the black objects were revealed to be a swarm of machine-like Digimon with cyclopian eyes and clawed hands.

Lance cleared his throat, "Addressing all gunners. Fire at my command only."

The creatures were coming closer, and suddenly, the 'Freedom Fighter' was jolted as though a titanic fist had punched her. On the ground, groups of tank-like Digimon were firing at her ventral hull surface, and their projectile explosives detonated powerfully but futilely against her defensive shields.

"Fire."

xxx

Commander Machinedramon, stationed just outside Neo File City, watched as his Mekanorimon aerial troops and Tankmon ground troops rushed the incoming human spacecraft. Their weapons failed to penetrate the ship's shields, despite a continuous bombardment lasting nearly an entire _two minutes_! He cocked a mechanical eyebrow, impressed against his will by the humans' technological prowess.

"Sir, the aerial troops are switching to ion weapons," clicked one of his Hagurumon subordinates, "Permission to open fire?"

"Commence with Operation Elimin-8," he hissed in reply.

"Operation Elimin-8, sir?"

"You know the procedure. Operation Elimin-8."

Behind them, blast shields slid shut all around Neo File City. The city was now sealed-off from the rest of the battlefield, looking for all the world like a large flowering bud that hadn't bloomed yet.

Metal plates on the ground slid open, and several large, dragon-like Digimon flew out of them. The Gigadramon and Megadramon flew towards the human ship, their weapon arms glowing with energy. Concealed turrets rose out of the ground, wicked-looking weaponry assembled into all of them.

And then, the human ship opened fire.

xxx

Datamon had just sent the humans and their Pokemon away to their cells, and was watching Raremon lick up the Professor's last drops of blood, when his aide teleported to his side. The usually composed Impmon was now fidgeting and seemingly panicked, as it handed a datapad to him.

"Sir, the humans have gone on the offensive!" reported the diminutive Digimon, "Their spacecraft has breached the fifty-kilometer safety radius already!"

"Open a channel to Admiral Raidenmon," ordered Datamon, "And make sure our specimens are locked-down securely."

While waiting for the connection to be secured, Impmon heard his boss mutter to himself, "So, it is time for the gloves to come off…"

xxx

Admiral Raidenmon observed as the battle unfolded just forty-one kilometers or so away from Neo File City. His protégé, Machinedramon, was directing the battle rather satisfactorily, and so far, had already implemented Operation Elimin-8 (a little excessive, but being careful never cost anyone anything before). Raidenmon suppressed a furious bellow when three Mekanorimon were vaporized by the enemy ship's weapons, and slammed one of his cannon-like arms into his desk.

His communications console came to life, and Impmon's face was on the screen.

"Sir, the Grand Admiral requests a word," said the dark fairy, his image being replaced by Datamon's.

"Sir, what are your orders?" rumbled Raidenmon, "It appears the humans are the most formidable foes we have encountered, to date."

"You are to lead the three Jin Digimon through the portal, and storm the location where it opens. Use all available elementary attacks, and destroy all human civilization," Datamon's eyes narrowed, "We can dig them out of the rubble later. After all, we do have enough slaves currently…"

"Permission to utilize the Ghost Corps.?" Asked Raidenmon, his lone eye now bloodshot.

"Granted. Datamon, Out," the Grand Admiral's image vanished from the screen.

xxx

Four humans were being herded into a detention cell by eight Tekkamon guards, and three of the humans were crying or sobbing. The fourth merely looked bored, though with her nature, the actual train of her thoughts would be unreadable.

"In!" snarled one of the Tekkamon, "Into the cell!"

"You monsters!" yelled Misty, tears staining her cheeks, "Bastards!"

"Misty, drop it," said Brock, his voice unsteady, "Like they were going to keep their promise…"

"The Grand Admiral never promised anything!" snapped one of the Tekkamon, as he slammed their cell door shut.

It was only moments before the sounds of violent combat in the detention block were heard by them, inside their cell. There were sounds of sparking electricity, muffled THUD! sounds, and painful cracking noises.

Soon enough, the fighting stopped, and their cell door slid open.

"Told you I'd be back for you," said May, as she stepped into the cell, a small smile on her face.

Behind her, on the floor, a dead Tekkamon guard was visible. May had speared its head using its own trident.


	15. Countdown 5

**Countdown: 5**

Lance grimaced as another violent explosion rocked the 'Freedom Fighter'. The Digimon had intensified their bombardment, and were forming a living a barricade in between the human starship and their home city. Charging head-on into the Digimon barrier would have been suicidal, since at close range, their weapons would probably break through the shielding field. That is, of course, if they didn't get disintegrated by the field first.

"Damn!" cursed one of the shield technicians, "Sir, shields are down to the last twenty percent on reserves! They won't last much longer if the Digimon keep up their bombardment!"

"Fire the forward batteries, then advance," commanded Agatha, her eyes glowing with psychic energy, "Their formation is about to break."

Powerful laser-fire spewed forth from the forward batteries as the Digimon barrier broke into a star-burst formation, and disintegrated several of the smaller Digimon ahead of them. The human starship flew forward, numerous Digimon vanishing as they were hit by the energy field that protected the 'Freedom Fighter'. The huge ship plowed through the remaining aerial Digimon, and moved towards Neo File City, now just twenty kilometers away from them.

Suddenly, the ship jerked to a stop, as if an invisible hand had grabbed hold of its hull, and was holding it still.

"Fire all engines!" ordered Surge, "And tell me what's going on!"

"Sir, we've been trapped in a tractor beam!" reported one of the bridge crew, "They are holding us fast, and we can't break their grip!"

"Tractor beam?"

"LOOK!" cried Gary Oak, who had just ran into the bridge, "Look out of the viewport! It's massive!"

"A massive Digimon?"

"THAT!" yelled Gary, pointing.

Everyone turned to look, and true enough, a titanic shadow was eclipsing the sun above their ship. The edges of what looked like a metallic wedge-shaped object were visible, and hundreds of tiny lights dotted the surface of the object. Small, wasp-like Digimon were flying around the object, which was clearly a ship of some sort.

The bridge's communications console came to life with a burst of static, as a Digimon face formed on-screen. The Digimon had a transparent, oblong head, with several pieces of machinery operating inside.

"This is Grand Admiral Datamon of the Digimon Army," stated the android, "We have come to demand your surrender of the ship. All occupants will be spared."

"Liar," hissed Agatha, "'All occupants will be spared'? Like you spared Samuel Oak?"

"Ah, you know about his death then," laughed the Digimon, as he observed Gary's eyes widen to the size of dinner plates, "Then you should just surrender – death is always better when it comes faster to you…"

"Fuck off," retorted Lance, drawing a scandalized look from Agatha, "We built this ship, and we are going to go down with her if we have to."

"Such a pity," Datamon's expression hardened, "That a fascinating piece of machinery like this will be damaged. But I _will_ have your ship before dawn comes."

Before they could respond, the screen went dead. Moments later, a muffled explosion was heard, followed by a resonating, high-pitched humming.

"Shields down!" cried a technician, "Next hit-"

The 'Freedom Fighter' bucked wildly as a bomb exploded on its dorsal hull, and soon, the corridors were filled with sound of incoming Digimon troops.

xxx

WHAM! An enraged May punched the nearest wall, leaving a fist-sized dent there. She just stood there silently for a moment, before she broke down into sobs. Tears streaked down her cheeks, as she digested the news of her grandfather's violent death. Ash placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, and wished that he could bear the pain she felt, instead. The others stood around them, respecting May's moment of sorrow with their solemnity.

"Grandpa… Why…" sobbed May, "He was a harmless old man! How could they do this?!"

"The Digimon don't play by our rules," said Brock gently, "But rest assured, your grandfather's death was not in vain."

"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?!" shrieked May, jumping to her feet, "HE SHOULDN'T HAVE DIED, YOU-"

"Enough," Sabrina interrupted, "I have discovered a way for all this to be undone. The war. The invasion. Your grandfather's death. And those of many others."

"What do you mean?" asked Misty, "How can you 'undo' something?"

"Celebi," replied Sabrina simply.

"Celebi?" cried Ash, "The Pokemon Forest Guardian?"

"And Master of Time," nodded Sabrina, a slight smile on her face, "I can feel his aura coming closer. He is approaching our timeline. So we will have to wait."

"Maybe we need not wait after all," whispered May, as she remembered something that had seemed to be nothing but trivial information, "Celebi isn't the only Master of Time…"

"Who else is there who can manipulate time?" scoffed Misty, "What? The Digimon have a time machine in their basement or something?"

"Yes."

Everyone could only stare in surprise, as May revealed this astonishing fact. She was still in her sad daze, but clearly, her mind was working at its best.

"When Apocallymon declared himself Emperor, he decided to get rid of any Digimon that might pose a threat to his Empire. So he dispatched his most loyal followers to the four corners of Data, to round up and incarcerate those rebellious Digimon. He imprisoned them all in a subterranean laboratory, where they remain in stasis," said May, looking at nothing in particular, "He even harvested samples of their DNA to make clones of them. Clones that obeyed his every order and were the unholy mirror-images of the original Digimon."

"Where is this laboratory?" asked Ash, as he stretched his back, feeling the bones pop.

"Almost directly beneath us," replied May, raising several eyebrows, "You didn't think that it would be in a low-security area, did you?"

xxx

"Psywave!" yelled Gary, as his Exeggutor battled with a horde of the wasp-like Digimon from earlier. The creatures were using supersonic attacks and venomous stings, but fortunately, Exeggutor wasn't affected much by those moves, as she was a plant.

The coconut-headed Digimon shot a blast of psychokinetic energy at the Digimon, which either evaded it or were rendered unconscious. Across the spacious bridge, similar battles were taking place, as crew members and their Pokemon engaged with all sorts of Digimon attackers. Tracey and his Venomoth were fighting with several Digimon that resembled stuffed dinosaur toys, and Lance's Dragonair was busy freezing several Digimon that looked like miniature fireballs.

Agatha hobbled up to Gary, her Gengar on the other side of the bridge, busy fighting a wraith-like Digimon wielding a sickle, "Young man, I need a word."

"Later, Agatha!" Gary grated, as his Exeggutor lost several frond-like hairs to a particularly ferocious wasp Digimon.

"I need to send you and Tracey back to Earth," she said, miraculously unharmed and calm despite the chaos that was all around her, "Lorelei and Bruno won't be able to handle them on their own."

"Who?" Gary couldn't believe his ears. There was a battle going on, and this old lady wanted to talk in riddles? What the Hell?!

"Four powerful Digimon and their subordinates," said Agatha, "Who will destroy everything they see. You two are needed there."

"We are needed HERE!"

"Listen to me, child," said Agatha, as she bludgeoned a charging stuffed-toy Digimon with her walking stick, knocking it out, "I have seen the near, possible future, and your place is on Earth."

"But the ship…"

"This ship is a lost cause," Agatha said quietly, her expression grim, "We shall be eventually overwhelmed, and tortured to death. So call Tracey, boy, and I shall send you two to Earth."

Gary asked Exeggutor to call Tracey, and soon enough, the two trainers were next to Agatha, who had released her Haunter.

"Luck to all," she said, as the bridge disappeared around their feet. Soon enough, their surroundings changed from the bloodstained deck, to a grassy meadow.

In their mind's eye, they saw one last glimpse of the bridge through Haunter's eyes – Agatha getting cut down by the sickle-wielding Digimon her Gengar had died trying to stop.

xxx

Raidenmon flew through the portal, his shoulder-mounted jets propelling him through the air with ease. Behind him were the three Jin Digimon – Fujinmon, Suijinmon, and Raijinmon. The masters of Wind, Water, and Thunder, respectively. To their surprise, an entire group of humans and Pokemon was waiting for them right outside the portal, as if they had been expecting their arrival. How did this nonsense happen?

"Go back to where you came from!" yelled a woman in a slinky purple dress, who watched them from behind spectacles with frosted lenses, "Earth is OURS!"

"Orders: destroy everything!" bellowed Raidenmon, as a veritable cloud of ghost-like Digimon erupted out of the portal like angry bees out of a hive.

As the humans and their Pokemon surged forward, the Bakemon, Soulmon, and Phantomon troops rushed to meet them, scythes, non-corporeal claws, and shadowy fists ready to be used in deadly combat.

Meanwhile, the four Digimon commanders flew over the battlefield, and each landed in a separate location on the Kanto continent. Raidenmon landed in Viridian City, Suijinmon landed close to the Cinnabar Islands, Fujinmon landed in Saffron City, and Raijinmon landed in Lavender Town.

All over Kanto, blood was shed.

xxx

Datamon was opening a communications channel to Emperor Apocallymon, as his troops had just finished storming the human starship. His personal ship, the 'Cloak', had held their craft in one place, until they were all captured or killed. The screen soon lit-up with the face of a humanoid woman, with almost feline facial features.

"Yes, Grand Admiral," purred Lord Apocallymon's aide, Persiamon, "How may I help you?"

"I seek and audience with the Emperor," Datamon said, as he bowed his head, "We have just finished the capture of the human ship."

"Very well, then…" Persianmon's image faded away, to be replaced by the Emperor's.

"Report," he said simply, his glassy eyes filled with a cold fire, "And explain the security breach in the detention block."

Datamon was taken aback, "Security breach, Lord?"

"Yes," snapped Apocallymon, "Your supposedly 'elite' Tekkamon prison guards were killed, all eight of them! Not five minutes ago! Now we have four humans loose in the high-security areas, and that is only a bigger problem when you consider that they have a cyborg girl with them! One which _you_ had fitted with a MCC-FC device, and augmented using OUR technology! I want answers, now!"

Datamon felt an electrical chill run up his mechanical spine. Those humans had gotten loose! Damn! His Tekkamon elite guards had never before been overwhelmed, let alone killed. But the cyborg girl was to blame, for she was the one who could even take down a Mammothmon if she wanted to. What was Arukenimon thinking when she let the girl be released by the MCC?! And why weren't they trying to leave the high-security areas?

The answer came to him in a sudden, explosive thought.

"Lord, I have the solution to this!" he said confidently, "I know where they are going!"

"And where is that?"

"They are headed to the Stasis Chambers."

Apocallymon looked thoughtful for a moment, then his eyes narrowed into angry slits, "The bastards…"

"Exactly. They are trying to undo Time itself," said Datamon triumphantly, as he sent a telepathic message to three subordinates of his, "But never fear – we'll have them back in custody soon enough, my Lord."

"I have no fear, Admiral," replied the Emperor, as his image became shadowy, "It is YOU who should be fearful."

With that, the screen went blank.

xxx

"How much further?" asked Brock, as they trudged through a filthy sewage pipe. From its dryness, and relative lack of a stench, it seemed to have been out of usage for quite some time already. But all sorts of grimy filth covered its bottom, nonetheless.

"Just several dozen feet more," replied May and Sabrina in unison. The two of them had taken to a psychic mental-bond, and often spoke synchronously now, "That ladder ahead is our way to the Stasis Chambers."

According to May, she had learned how to read Arukenimon's thoughts during her brief period of mental imprisonment. She had managed to get into the Intelligence agent's subconsciousness, and get all sorts of information. Among all that information was the location of the Stasis Chambers, but the actual directions were fuzzy, since Arukenimon herself didn't exactly know the best paths through the sewage pipes. After all, she did have authorization to enter the Chambers, albeit through legal, and non-sewage paths.

Hence the need for a mental bond with Sabrina. After their minds were linked, they almost 'saw' the path to the Chambers. The Chambers were a mass of glowing life-energy when viewed with a psychic eye, and they had moved towards that light. Surprisingly, no Digimon had appeared in the sewage pipes so far…

Up ahead, barely-visible in the near-darkness, was a narrow metal ladder. The ladder was flanked by two dim lights, and led to a locked blast door. May reached the ladder first, and climbed it rapidly. She keyed-in a password into a panel on the door's handle, and it slid open with a clanking noise.

She hopped into the Chambers, which were in complete darkness. The others soon followed, and the door slid shut behind Misty as she stepped into the room.

"Did you close the door, May?"

"No, I didn't…" May replied, a tad uneasily, "I can't recall if it closes on its own or not…"

"_We_ closed the door, _dearies_," came a familiar, feminine voice from somewhere in the darkness.

As they all jumped into battle stances, releasing various Pokemon, the lights came on. Arukenimon, Mummymon, and a third, unknown Digimon, which they had never encountered before. It had a set of gangling limbs, tipped with over-sized claws, and was garbed in a set of navy-blue armor. Bloodshot eyes surveyed them through narrow eye-slits in the armored helmet, and stringy blond hair hung loose around the creature's neck.

"So, these are the imbeciles who got you into so much trouble," remarked the unknown Digimon, in an oddly synthetic voice, "I am Cryptology Chief Diaboromon, and you are not authorized to access this area."

With that, the three Digimon officers attacked.


	16. Countdown 4

**Countdown 4**

Mummymon was wielding his shotgun, Arukenimon was using her three-sectioned staff, and Diaboromon was unarmed. But the three Digimon officers nonetheless were putting up a tough fight against Ash's, Misty's, Brock's, and Sabrina's Pokemon. Even though May was using her augmented strength against them, the Digimon were prepared this time, and she couldn't land a hit on them despite her best efforts.

"SCUM!" shrieked Arukenimon, spraying strings of spider's webbing at Pikachu and Staryu as they evaded her staff's volatile path, "DIE!"

"To hell with you!" shouted Ash, "THUNDER!"

Pikachu sent a titanic column of electricity flying towards Arukenimon, who jumped aside at the last minute. The runaway electric storm hit a computer console on the wall, causing an explosion to rock the room. Copious amounts of black smoke belched out of the destroyed machine, and the lights in the Stasis Chambers flickered. Suddenly, a great blast door behind the three Digimon opened halfway, revealing a room filled with huge floor-to-ceiling transparent cylinders.

Each cylinder held a motionless Digimon, floating in a greenish liquid.

"The Chambers!" Sabrina exclaimed, "Mr. Mime, Kinesis the door!"

The diminutive humanoid Pokemon nodded, and focused its psychic powers on the jammed blast door. The door shook violently in its frame for a moment, before sliding up all the way, and slamming into its socket with a CLANG! The Stasis Chambers were now fully-opened, and the door had been damaged to the point where it couldn't close anymore.

"Stop them!" hissed Diaboromon, as he discharged streams of electric energy from his claws at Brock's Golbat and May, "Close the Chambers!"

"The door is blown, you imbecile!" snapped Mummymon, as he gave Sabrina's Mr. Mime a blow upside of its head, "We'll have to stop them using pure force."

The Cryptology Chief cursed, and swiped at the humans and Pokemon that were troubling him, "Confu!"

Golbat suddenly stopped trying to attack Diaboromon, and instead turned towards May. Firing a volley of supersonic waves at her, stunning her, it then flew forward and sank its fangs into her shoulder.

"Golbat!" cried Brock, not believing his eyes, "Stop! HE'S the enemy!"

"Sleepel!" snarled the cadaverous Digimon officer, this time directing his gaze at May.

Already weakened by Golbat's bloodsucking assault, May crumpled to the floor, in an unconscious heap. The confused bat Pokemon was pinned beneath her back, and flapped its wings feebly as it tried to escape from under her body's dead weight. Diaboromon let out a maniac's cackling laugh.

"Gaian Materia!" he crowed, as he slapped Brock across the face, after clearing the three meters between them in a second, "Just a little something I got as a souvenir from one of the worlds under our rule! They were the third hardest to subjugate, after you humans and the Digidestined. Now, taste my Bio3 spell!"

Brock began convulsing, as a sickly green light enveloped his body. He retched and writhed, as rashes appeared all over his body. Red splotches much like acid burns sprouted on his skin, and soon enough, he was dry-heaving on the floor. Diaboromon was so absorbed in enjoying the poisoned human's suffering, he didn't notice Misty sneaking up behind him.

She jumped onto his back, and grabbed his spindly neck with both hands, "REVERSE THAT SPELL, NOW!"

"Never, insolent fool human!" wheezed Diaboromon, as he tried to dislodge her hands from his windpipe, "YOU shall die!"

While Misty grappled with Diaboromon, trying to release Brock from the foul magic he had been inflicted with, Ash and Sabrina were facing-down Arukenimon and Mummymon. The two Digimon were blocking the entrance to the Stasis Chambers, and were now bare-handed, their weapons having vanished into thin air.

"Let us through," said Sabrina, her voice as cold as ice.

"Oh no, my young friend," rasped Mummymon, as he glared at the psychic woman with his sickly, yellowed eye, "You are in no position to make demands…"

"What do you mean?" yelled Ash, as Pikachu's cheeks sparked with anticipation, "Get out of our way, now!"

"You see, we discovered something interesting," said Arukenimon, ignoring Ash's outburst, "Someone had decided to try and bond with May's mind, thinking that the MCC-FC was under control and couldn't do anymore harm. But it was all a sham, I'm sad to say."

Sabrina suddenly fell to her knees with a sharp cry, her hands clutching at her head. Ash let out a cry of surprise, as she collapsed onto her side, and curled into a fetal ball.

"On the dropship, _that_ was a genuine break-through on May's behalf. Later, we managed to regain control, shortly after she released you from the Grand Admiral's guards. But your amateur psychic mind probe failed to detect the deception, KYA HAHA HAHA! Everything that has transpired since then has done so according to MY design!" laughed the spider-like Digimon, "All of you walked into a trap!"

"No… Don't hurt me…" cried Sabrina, as she flailed wildly on the floor. A sudden burst of psychic energy shot out of her hands, and hit Ash's legs, sending him to the ground. Pikachu jumped and avoided the fall, but was taken down by Mummymon's fist.

"So, now we are feeding your little psychic here all the pain May felt," rumbled the corpse-like Mummymon, "And you shall see what she went through!"

Ash tried to stand up, but his legs had been paralysed by the psychic blast that had hit them. He tried to call Misty, but saw that she was still clinging to Diaboromon's back, and that she was now crying and shrieking at the Digimon. Brock was lying motionless on the floor, a viscous white fluid seeping out of his mouth and nose. Brock's Golbat was still trying to get out from under May's prone form.

"Let him go!" shrilled Misty, as more tears streamed down her cheeks, "Stop it!"

"Why should I?" taunted the Digimon, though its voice was that of a suffocating person, "What's it to you if he dies? You cannot break my spell, even if you somehow manage to strangle me!"

"I LOVE HIM!" she shrieked, releasing his neck. The Digimon was stunned for a moment, and received two stiffened fingers in each of his diseased eyes before he could do anything.

"ARGHH!!!" he clawed at her, ripping her back in a dozen places, but nonetheless she maintained her grip on his face.

"You… Are… ANIMALS!" Misty snarled, her eyes bloodshot and spit flying from her mouth, "You've taken EVERYTHING that I loved from me! Now reverse the spell, or else!"

By now, Brock's skin had turned chalk-white, and his bones were visible through it. He looked like a living skeleton, and his chest barely rose and fell, as though his respiration was a struggle in itself. More fluids were oozing out of his orifices, as evidenced by the growing puddle around his body. His clothes were soaked through with the substance, and the entire mess reeked of something rotten.

"IDIOT!" boomed Mummymon, striding over to Diaboromon and plucking Misty off his back with ease, like a dog would remove a tick, "INCOMPETENT!"

Ash was suddenly struck by inspiration, "Golbat, gust!"

The bat-like Pokemon hesitated, but obeyed the strange order. It created a strong gust of wind, which lifted May up. It then got itself into the air, and Screeched at Mummymon and Diaboromon. They were stunned by the sonic attack, and shook their heads to try and rid themselves of the disorientation that they felt. Golbat then fired a Whirlwind at them – the most focused move it has ever used.

The two Digimon were thrown backwards by the force of the wind-based attack, and Misty was dropped by Mummymon in the process. They flew backwards, through the open door to the Stasis Chambers, and hit the glass cylinder closest to the door. Diaboromon hit the cylinder first, and it shattered under his armored weight.

Smoking green liquid gushed out of the smashed cylinder onto the downed Digimon's body, causing him to let out a piercing shriek as his armor melted onto his skin. The Digimon inside stirred, and roared defiantly, invisible through the smog that was rising from the cylinder's remaining fluid contents. Soon enough, a large fireball flew out of the smog cloud, and melted another cylinder. The newly-destroyed cylinder added some more gas to the smog cloud, and an eagle's cry was heard from within.

At the sight of all this, Arukenimon's eyes grew wide, "NOOO!!!"

She ran over to the wall, and smashed open a glass panel. Deftly, she turned a key inside the panel, and alarm klaxons started to sound somewhere above them in the city.

In the Stasis Chambers, more cylinders were being smashed by the second. Roars, shrieks, and battle cries were heard through the thickening smog cloud in the Stasis Chambers. Innumerable Digimon attacks lit-up the smoggy Chambers, and some stray shots flew out into the room where the humans were. Arukenimon had by now conjured her three-sectioned staff, and was striding cautiously towards the smoke-filled doorway.

"HEAVEN'S ARROW!" came a woman's musical voice from somewhere in the smog, and an arrow seemingly cast out of white light flew forward, striking Arukenimon in the chest. The force of the shot sent her flying into the wall behind her, where the arrow stuck. She thrashed around for some time like a pinned insect, screaming incoherently, before finally going limp and disintegrating into nothingness.

Ash then saw Mummymon crawling out of the gas-filled room, his filth-caked wrappings in tatters, and with nothing remaining of his body beneath his waist except for some torn, trailing bandages. He stared at Ash for a moment, and his concealed face seemed to show some signs of sorrow.

"After all these centuries… After all our labors..." he croaked, "Is this… the… end?"

His monocular eye's yellow glow faded into darkness, and he disappeared gradually, much like his wife had before him. The room was now silent, and the smog from the ruptured cylinders was thinning. Several shapes were approaching through the diminishing cloud, and it was Misty who came to her senses first.

"HELP US!" she cried, "WE'VE GOT DYING PEOPLE HERE!"

"Help is on the way," came a deep voice from one of the approaching Digimon, who looked like a werewolf, "But for now, you must rest."

Ash and Misty felt their eyes grow heavy, and soon, they faded into sleep.

xxx

_Why me? What did I do to deserve this? Ash…_

_Brock… Why didn't I tell you how I felt? Now it's all too late… Maybe I should join you…_

_I was a fool to trust other people… But will it all be worth it in the end? Do the ends justify the means?_

_It's… so… painful… Like acid… in my lungs… Body burning… Sorry, Misty…_

_Somebody save Brock… Misty... Sabrina... And get that thing out of May's mind! Oh, May…_

xxx

"He's coming round."

"Good. The others?"

"They are fine. Except for the two girls who got abused with that damned mind-controller, they are in healthy shape."

"The boy who got poisoned? Never seen that type of poison before…"

"I cured him, don't worry. It's the mental damage we'll have to worry about, now."

"Can you hear me, kid?"

Brock woke up to see a walrus-like Digimon with shaggy fur looking at him through a pair of soulful blue eyes. He looked around, and saw nine other Digimon standing there in a wide circle.

A dinosaur-like Digimon with a cyborg body.

An angelic pair – two Digimon who looked like a male and female seraph from Heaven.

An insectoid Digimon with sharp horns, but not the same as those which attacked Pallet Town.

A flowery Digimon with four leaves on its back.

One which looked like an bipedal, humanoid wolf.

Another that looked like a condor from ancient lore.

A Digimon that looked like a kindly old man.

And the last one was an imp sitting on a large clock.

"Clo…Clockmon?" he said hoarsely.

"You know me, then," it was a statement, not a question.

"Can you… undo all this?"

"Only time can tell, and only you can tell time."

"I don't understand…"

The condor-like Digimon strode forward, "I am Garudamon. You and your friends came here to try and undo all this through Time, is it not?"

"Yes."

"But you see, I cannot simply carry all of you through Time," said Clockmon, shaking his head, "Only those who are of the strongest heart may travel through Time."

"After all we've been through, haven't we suffered enough?"

"Suffering does not strengthen all hearts," answered the Digimon who looked like his grandfather, "It weakens most, hardens some, and strengthens few."

"… do any of us have what it takes?"

Clockmon nodded, "Yes. Two of you."

Brock felt an overwhelming wave of relief wash over him. Clockmon's earlier words had scared him – what if none of them were fit to go back in time? But now, at least there was some hope.

The old-man Digimon stepped forward, "Ash was too childish and impulsive. He might end up creating a bigger mess than we are in now, if you let him tamper with Time. Sabrina was too hard-hearted and cold. Her emotional instability is just too risky for us to gamble on, especially with regards to altering the past. YOU were too soft-hearted."

"Hey!" Brock replied, slightly offended, "What do you-"

Jijimon, the elderly sage, cut him off, "Those who lust too much shall lose themselves, and those who love too much shall lose their hearts."

"I don't understand…"

"Your love for your family and friends is your best quality, and yet also your greatest flaw. You wouldn't be willing to sacrifice any of them, even if it was for the greater good. Instead, you would selfishly hold on to them, and let everything else fall into ruin around you. That is why your heart isn't strong enough."

"So.." Brock answered quietly. He had failed, and his heart wasn't strong enough. It was such a bitter pill to swallow, "May and Misty are the only ones whose hearts were strong enough for Time travel?"

"Very much so," replied Jijimon, "Misty was an outcast in her own family, but still loved them nonetheless. She loves you, Brock, and she even attacked Diaboromon bare-handed when he poisoned you. And as for May… I'll just say that she is a child who has been put through what grown men would have been terrified of experiencing. She is a child who has been to Hell and back, and yet has survived. Her emotions have numbed somewhat, but yet, her love for Ash is still burning strong."

Brock was stunned speechless by Jijimon's words. Misty loved him in return… He had not known… How could he have not told her? Tears trickled down his cheeks, as he realized just how close the two of them had come to losing each other, without getting the chance to express their feelings. The male angel-like Digimon stepped forward, and placed a massive hand on his shoulder.

"Love is the sweetest joy and the wildest woe," said the Digimon, "And the truth shall always set you free."

"Even Arukenimon and Mummymon, those two monsters, knew what love was. They were so much in love with each other," added the female angel Digimon, "You, Misty. Ash, May. The four of you are fools to not have told the other how you felt…"

"Enough about this," snapped the cyborg, dinosaurian Digimon, "Awaken the others already! We need to send them back, NOW."

"Why rush?" asked the flowery Digimon next to him, "Clockmon can always undo time-"

"Zanbamon has sent his Musyamon troops down to the basement levels already," growled the walrus-like Digimon, "He himself is leading the battalions. I can hear them approaching."

"Very well then," nodded the male angel. He waved his hand, and the four unconscious humans woke up with a start.

They looked dazed for a moment, before their eyesight returned to them. Finally, they spotted Brock and the ten Digimon in the room. Ash gaped, May frowned, Sabrina glowered, and Misty smiled.

"Are you the one who killed Arukenimon?" she asked Angewomon, the female angel Digimon.

"Yes," replied the angel, "Though I feel sorrowful for that deed. To be killed is a sadness, and to kill is to sin…"

"Can you send us back in time?" asked Ash, excitement in his voice, "We'll kick some butt!"

"Only May and Misty can be sent back in time, Ash," said Clockmon, his voice much like that of grinding gears.

"Why?" this from Sabrina, "Why only May and Misty?"

"Your friend will explain to you," said Jijimon, gesturing towards Brock, "We Digimon now have to fight, to buy you all some time."

"Good luck. May your judgment remain clear," said MagnaAngemon, as he started to glow with a brilliant white light.

One-by-one, the Digimon all vanished, until only Clockmon was left in the room with the humans. The mechanical Digimon looked at them for a moment, before letting out a loud sigh. It walked over to May and Misty, and looked them in the eye.

"Are you two ready?" it asked, "Time travel is not for those who are unprepared."

"Wait a minute!" said Ash, "Why can't Brock, Sabrina, and I go back in time as well?"

"Your friend here will explain everything," replied the chronometer Digimon, "AFTER we have left you all."

"NO FAIR!" cried Ash, "I-"

"Child, don't make me freeze you in time. Act your age," retorted Clockmon, "Now, is there anything left that you all have yet to resolve?"

Silence filled the room as the five humans and their Pokemon thought of what they might need to do in the past. Some questions were asked, and not all of them were answered. Finally, Clockmon broke the silence.

"It is almost time," it said, "I shall be taking May and Misty into the past now. Their actions might change the future, and then again, they might not. But if the future does change, they might not even remember you, or even exist at all. So now, please say your goodbyes."

Misty stepped forward first, "Goodbye for now, Ash, Brock, Sabrina. It's been nice knowing you all… Brock… I want you to know that I love you. Always have. But now, it's too late…"

"Don't worry, Misty," replied Brock, his voice cracking with emotion, "All this while, and we didn't realize the way we felt for each other. I love you too, Misty…"

The two of them fell into an embrace, their tears flowing freely. May let out some sniffles and Sabrina politely applauded, while Ash seemed to be in a state of shock.

Sabrina stepped forward next. She nodded to all those who were present, "Farewell. Though I am unworthy, accept my strength."

May and Misty felt a sudden surge of energy rush through them. They felt fully energized, as though a whole lot of steroids had been injected directly into their bloodstreams. Sabrina fell to the floor, and slowly stood up again.

"Use it well," she said weakly, "The strength transfer is by no means in infinite supply."

It was then Ash's turn to say his piece. He looked at everyone else in the room one-by-one, and slowly, he began to speak.

"I know that I'm sometimes selfish, immature, and hot-tempered," he said, his voice quavering, "But for once, I think I'll step back and let someone else do the job – someone who could do it better than me. So goodbye, May and Misty."

He turned to Misty, "Take care of yourself and May. Even if the future changes, I'm sure we'll meet again. You're like the sister I never had."

Then, he spoke to May, "May, you already know how I feel for you. Take care of yourself, since I almost lost you once, and I sure as Hell don't wanna lose you again. Maybe if Time permits, we can try to get a fresh start…"

May then spoke up, whilst wiping tears from her eyes, "Everyone. I know that I did some horrible things while I was under mind-control. But I hope to undo all that. Then, I hope that in the new future, everything will be alright…"

She then looked directly at Ash, tears welling up in her eyes, "If we don't meet again, remember me."

Ash stepped towards her and took her hand in his. Then, surprising everyone in the room, he leaned forward and kissed her on the lips. For those few blessed seconds, all the horrors of war, all the death, all the pain… all of it was forgotten, as they became lost in each others' touch.

Finally, they broke the kiss, and Ash stepped back, with his parting words to May, "For luck."

Clockmon gestured to the two teenage girls, and they stepped up to it. The machine-like Digimon then started to hum, and the three hands on its clock spun rapidly.

Everyone in the room was blinded by a flash of bright light, that erupted from Clockmon's body. By the time the light faded, and their eyesight returned to them, May and Misty were gone.


	17. Countdown 3

**Countdown 3**

BOOM!!!

A tree trunk exploded into a cloud of razor-sharp splinters as the Digimon Ghost Corps. tried to deal some widespread damage to their human and Pokemon adversaries by attacking the very battleground they were fighting on. The wraith-like, non-corporeal Digimon troops merely brushed-off any stray wooden shrapnel that passed through them, but their organic enemies weren't as lucky – over a dozen of the soft-bodied humans and their pets fell to the ground in lifeless, bloodstained heaps of shredded flesh.

"Charge!" hissed Commander Myotismon, the vampiric leader of the Ghost Corps. At his words, a swarm of Bakemon, Soulmon, and Phantomon resumed their attack on the human and Pokemon forces. He hadn't been to Earth for several centuries already, since the Digidestined had killed him for the first time in his long life. As such, he had no fond memories of Earth, save for that involving a young human girl with the _sweetest_ blood…

Fortunately for the humans, the Ghost Digimon troops shared a common weakness with Ghost Pokemon such as Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar – Psychic and Ground-type Pokemon attacks were three times as efficient when used against them. As soon as the spirit Digimon flew forward, several Psychic, Psybeam, Confusion, and Psywave blasts were fired towards them. The ground shook as several Onix and Gravellers channeled their Earthquake and Rock Slide attacks towards the incoming wave of Digimon.

Finally, the four leaders of the humans and Pokemon made their presence known. Standing beside their loyal Pokemon, Gary, Tracey, Lorelei, and Bruno shouted out commands to the hundreds of Pokemon fighting under their orders.

"Rock Smash!" boomed Bruno, as his teams of Fighting and Ground-type Pokemon clashed with their Digimon opponents.

"Psywave! Hit them on wide-angle!" ordered Gary Oak, as he rushed into the melee, his Nidoking following closely behind him.

The Psywaves and Rock Smashes that followed the commands proved to be very effective indeed. Rocky debris that was in the air proved to be nasty when Psywave attacks propelled them forward like primitive projectile weapons. Numerous Bakemon fell, though the more robust Phantomon and Soulmon troops merely shrugged-off the attacks, and continued their assault on the humans.

'_Don't worry, Grandpa,'_ thought Gary his eyes bloodshot from supressed tears, as he withdrew a Pokeball from his belt while running at full-tilt past the battling creatures that were all around him, _'I'll be your avenger.'_

The Digimon commander, the blond one wearing the cloak and mask, was just ahead. He seemed to be firing bolts of lightning at any Pokemon or humans that came too close, and so Gary chose his next Pokemon carefully.

"Golem, GO!" only at the sound of his voice did the vampire-like Digimon commander notice the human boy and his two Pokemon, standing just twenty feet away from him, "Yeah, you! Bastard!"

The sallow-skinned Digimon smiled, showing-off several rows of pointed fangs, "Ah, welcome. Gary Oak, isn't it? I'd rather we skip the formalities..."

Immediately after the Digimon commander had finished speaking, he vanished into thin air with a swirl of his scarlet cape. Gary, Golem, and Nidoking jumped into alert battle stances, as they looked behind their backs in confusion. Soon enough, the three of them were lying on the ground, as they each received a powerful blow to their backs. Myotismon reappeared about fifteen feet in front of Gary, a smug grin on his face.

"So weak?" laughed the Digimon, "How did you ever manage to beat MetalSeadramon?"

"Come on, you Digimon scum!" shouted Gary, as his Golem stepped forward. The highly-trained Pokemon flexed her rocky, muscle-bound arms, as she stared down against Myotismon, "Let's see what you've got! You killed my Gramps, and YOU'RE GONNA PAY!"

Myotismon's crimson eyes glowed with a sadistic glee, "My pleasure, _boy_."

Golem rolled to safety as Myotismon fired a stream of bloodthirsty bats at her, and the skirmish between she of the Earth and he of the Night, began.

xxx

Flying high above Lavender Town, Raijinmon focused his Thunder-elemental energy into the four piles mounted on his broad shoulders. The four capacitors within the mounted piles crackled with the gargantuan electrical voltage accumulating within their confines, and soon discharged all their contents with a BANG! The Digimon Master of Electricity watched with perverse pleasure as four abnormally-powerful thunderbolts rained down upon Lavender Town, incinerating everything that they struck. After all, he WAS the Digimon of Thunder.

One of the thunderbolts hit Lavender Town's renowned Pokemon Tower dead-on, tearing through the ancient building as though it was made of paper. From his aerial position, Raijinmon could see right _through _the blasted Tower, which was now little more then a hollow tube of bricks, since everything within it had been destroyed, all the way to the ground. A second thunderbolt merely grazed the Tower as it finally hit home on Mr. Fuji's house, and this was the bolt that facilitated the tall building's collapse. Much like a tree with a large cut taken out of its truck, the Tower swayed alarmingly, before its upper portion broke-off and fell.

He laughed loudly with sadistic satisfaction as he witnessed the Tower's fall. Almost all of the humans and Pokemon in Lavender Town had tried to take refuge from his attack within the Tower, and so he had tried to aim at least one of his lighting strikes at the Tower. Most of the trainers living in the Pokemon ghost town had fled into the graveyard Tower's confines after seeing the yellow, metallic creature flying towards their town. Lightning bolts had heralded the thing's arrival by flight, and even now, the air was saturated with large amounts of static electricity.

Electricity was rather unpredictable when unleashed in excessive amounts, and aiming was significantly harder if you wanted to hit a target that wasn't the size of a cruise liner, at the very least. Nonetheless, Raijinmon had aimed for the Tower's purple roof, and managed to hit it.

"WEAKLINGS!" he shouted, as he watched the carnage unfold beneath him, "FIGHT ME!"

Pokemon Tower fell apart seconds after being damaged by the two thunderbolts. It started with a few bricks and shingles falling from the Tower's upper floors, which gradually increased into a veritable landslide of stone. The building's lower floors at first seemed unaffected by the collapsing floors above them, but they too, followed suit. The last standing floors of the Pokemon Tower fell in upon themselves like a wet sponge cake, eliciting several anguished screams from the humans and Pokemon who had survived the destruction of the upper floors.

Shaking his flattened head, he touched-down in Lavender Town's ruins, and fired-up his piles once again. There were only a few humans and their Pokemon left, and he wanted to make sure that NO ONE survived his attack. He was behind schedule, too – Fuschia City was still standing.

xxx

Saffron City was now little more than a sprawling complex of ruins. Insanely-powerful gales had buffeted the city, heralding Fujinmon's arrival. The Wind-elemental Digimon had wasted no time in flattening the city using its mastery over Wind, and no one had managed to put up any resistance to its assault. Only several squat houses remained standing, but even they were starting to falter in their rigidity. Parts of buildings and other ruined materials were flying around in the air, as several small tornadoes continued weaving their meandering paths of destruction all over the already devastated land.

"THUNDERPUNCH!" yelled a man garbed in a karate dojo's gi, as he watched his two prize Pokemon fight the toughest opponent they had ever met. Powerful gusts of wind cut through the air randomly and in all directions, threatening to send the man and his Pokemon flying. They were at the edge of what had once been Saffron City, and yet the windstorms here were still unnaturally intense. Even as the fighting went on, his two Pokemon were being pelted by small pieces of airborne debris that were being thrown around by the wind.

Several dozen feet away from him, his Hitmonchan and Hitmontop were engaged in a deadly bout of hand-to-hand combat with a green Digimon creature that seemed to be a mass of whirling spikes, blades, and windstorms. Every time his two battle-hardened Pokemon tried to dish out a blow against the Digimon monster, their fists would miss the target, and _they_ would be the ones who got hit instead, by their supernaturally-fast quarry. It was as though Hitmontop and Hitmonchan were trying to stick their hands into a dust-cloud and catch a handful of dust.

Watching the entire one-sided fight, the Karate Master felt a chill run down his spine as he recalled his Master's last words, spoken to him on the wizened old man's deathbed, seemingly an eternity ago.

_'In the world of martial arts, speed determines victory. Power is important, but those who is the fastest shall be the ones who triumph in battle. Remember this always, my young student…'_

His deceased Master's words seemed to be true, as his two Fighting-type Pokemon were currently taking a severe beating out there. The Digimon had now stopped hitting at them with its bladed fists, and had taken to bombarding them with debris that it had caught in the windstorms it had summoned. Hitmontop had already crumpled to the ground, giving way to a barrage of bricks and glass that it hadn't a chance in evading. It had tried to use its Dig move to escape, but the Wind-elemental Digimon had finished it like a squashed bug. Hitmonchan was just-barely holding on, using Mach Punches to deflect any debris coming its way. Clearly, the Pokemon's energy was running low, and it wouldn't be able to keep-up its debris-deflecting for much longer.

Finally, the Wind Master Digimon tired of toying with Hitmonchan, and sent an entire tree flying at the pugilist Pokemon. He had pulled the tree out of the ground just five minutes ago, and here it was, being useful already!

Hitmonchan's eyes grew as wide as dishes upon seeing the large, branched missile that Fujinmon had thrown at it. It tried to use Agility to run away from the target zone, but a sudden, cutting gust of wind swept it off its feet, and pinned it down. A wrecked car came down upon Hitmonchan's legs, holding it right in position for the tree's impact.

"HITMONCHAN!" cried the Karate Master, running towards his immobilized Pokemon. He saw the tree flying closer, growing larger in his field of vision, "I'LL SAVE YOU!"

"CHAN! HITMON MON CHAN!" screamed the trapped Pokemon, futilely telling its Master to stay away, even as tears of shame streamed out of its narrow eyes.

_'Master, I have failed you…'_

But it was too late. Fujinmon slammed the massive oak tree into the downed Pokemon and its foolish Master, ensuring that the branches crushed the weird, head-standing Pokemon that it had defeated first. The sheer force behind the tree's impact caused it to roll along the ground where it had impacted, until its branches got stuck against a house's wall, which nearly caved-in. The corpses of Hitmontop, Hitmonchan, and the Karate Master were mangled beyond recognition as the rolling tree squashed them beneath its trunk. The car Fujinmon had used to pin-down Hitmonchan was now airborne once again, though it now sported a large concavity where the tree had hit it.

At last satisfied with the destruction he had caused, Fujinmon landed, and summoned several more tornadoes, all significantly larger than those it had utilized earlier. Cackling with mirth spawned out of insanity, he decided that flattening Celadon City, his next task, would be an enjoyable exercise, indeed.

"LOOK OUT, CELADON!" he shrieked into the howling winds, "THE DIGIMON OF SPEED IS COMING YOUR WAY!"

xxx

Suijinmon growled deep within his semi-mechanical throat as he summoned a freakishly-huge tidal wave out of the ocean surrounding Cinnabar Island. He was currently airborne, though he longed with all his heart to be in the water, where he truly belonged. He commanded the wave to grow taller, and taller, before finally letting gravity take its course. The colossal wave surged forward, a mass of fluid destruction, finally reaching the coastline of Cinnabar Island.

Blaine, Gym Leader of Cinnabar and riddle-master extraordinaire, watched from his Charizard's back as the massive water wave flattened everything on Cinnabar Island. Houses and other buildings collapsed like houses of cards in a strong breeze, and even Mount Cinnabar was gurgling in a sinister way.

"Lucky we got everyone to Indigo Plateau on time, huh?" mused, eliciting a growl of approval from Charizard, "Now, let's show this Digimon that Water isn't invincible against Fire!"

His Charizard spat out a large fireball in Suijinmon's direction, before flying towards the gigantic Digimon. Indeed, the almost centaur-like Digimon dwarfed even a Steelix, and the four large cannons mounted on its shoulders and arms looked deadly, too. It had now landed in the ocean, and was watching Charizard and Blaine's approach with its two slitted eyes.

"A _fire_ elemental!" exclaimed the Digimon of Power in its bass voice, "Surely you know that I am a WATER elemental?"

"Not the first I've defeated then," retorted Blaine, his eyes flashing with anger behind his sunglasses, "Now riddle me this, you Digimon filth: what lies flat, deep, in darkness, and definitely smells?"

"A coffin, obviously!" snarled Suijinmon, "The same as the one I'm about to put YOU into!"

Water from all around the Digimon flowed upwards in a spiraling motion, forming a tower of moving liquid. The channel of briny seawater lanced towards Charizard, who narrowly-evaded the attack. Suijinmon's eyes were now glowing with latent energy, and he suddenly rammed his hands into the water at his feet. The water that had been flooding Cinnabar Island receded into the the sea, and soon enough, clouds were gathering above the ENTIRE island.

"He who laughs last laughs best!" boomed Suijinmon, as he gathered more clouds above Cinnabar Island, "DIE, human fool!"

With a deafening thunderclap, the clouds burst and released their contents in an overwhelming curtain of rainfall. At Suijinmon's command, the pouring clouds soon gravitated towards Blaine and his Charizard. Slow as they were, they were set to overtake the fleeing Gym Leader and his reptilian Pokemon, the both of whom were already occupied with the pillar of water that was pursuing them relentlessly.

"YOU ARE DOOMED, HUMAN!" laughed Suijinmon cruelly, "Have a drink, on me!"

At that moment, the pillar of water he had summoned split into two halves. One of them continued to spiral towards Charizard, while the other flew into the layer of thunderclouds that had blackened-out the sun. The rainfall intensified, and soon, Charizard felt the air grow dense with moisture behind its back.

"FLY, CHARIZARD, FLY FOR YOUR LIFE!" yelled Bane, as he retrieved another Pokeball from somewhere inside his lab coat, "GO, WEEZING!"

Blaine's extremely-wild Weezing appeared, and immediately starting vomiting-out clouds of toxic gases, which diffused upwards into the soggy storm clouds. The resulting torrents of acidified rain started to leave scorch marks on Suijinmon's metallic skin, and he let out several screeches of agony.

"HERESY!" he screamed, sounding like a mass of twisting metal, "LEVIATHAN, I CALL TO YOU! I SUMMON THEE!"

"Leviathan?!" Blaine exclaimed, bewildered, "Let's escape while we can, Charizard! The maniac's lost his marbles!"

Before they could escape, they saw a titanic wall of water rise out of the ocean before them. It soon re-shaped itself into a dragon-like silhouette, one of a winged beast with a crown of curved horns and a lithe, serpentine body. The creature uncoiled to its maximum length, and let out a bestial bellow that exploded through the rainstorm's noise, louder than any thunderclap.

"Oh, my God…" whispered Blaine, as the blood drained out of his face, "Cha- Charizard! Reverse flight, no- now!"

His words were a second too late. Even as the water-dragon spewed a column of water at Weezing, Charizard received several tons of water belly-first. Suijinmon's water-pillar had risen up beneath the flying Pokemon, and drenched it completely. The grievously-wounded Pokemon let out a bellow of agony, and its trainer fell from its back as it thrashed around in its death throes, already falling towards the water.

"Charizard!" cried Blaine, as he fell rapidly through the three hundred feet of air between his former elevated position and the ocean's churning waves. He was cut-off before he could say anything more, as he hit the water's surface with a sickening CRACK!

By the time Blaine had died from the force of his fall, his Charizard was also no longer among the living. Even Weezing hadn't been spared – the poisonous Pokemon had been drowned by the copious amounts of water that Suijinmon's summoned Leviathan had hit it with.

Suijinmon huffed as he saw the impudent human and his two Pokemon go down to their respective watery graves. His rainclouds were now silent, not a drop falling from their swollen holds. Leviathan was coming closer to him, her eyes displaying an eagerness to kill – she hadn't been summoned for the last eight hundred years, since before Suijinmon had become her Summoner.

The Machine-type Digimon beckoned to her, and when she came over, he stroked her winged back fondly. She let out a gurgling purr, and soon enough, she had dived beneath the water, as per his telepathically-spoken instructions.

Within minutes, Suijinmon was jetting through the water towards Cerulean City, Leviathan following closely behind him.

Thunder clouds darkened the skies ominously above their submerged forms as the two underwater creatures made their way to Kanto's Water Gym.

xxx

A three-headed mole-like Pokemon burst out of the ground, in a decent attempt at ambushing the Digimon attacking Viridian City, Admiral Raidenmon. However, Giovanni's Dugtrio soon found itself retreating back into the ground hastily, though, as the android Digimon used his tail to fire a powerful cannon-blast in its direction. The ground where it had been seconds ago exploded into a large dust cloud, as Raidenmon's Big Charge Bomb hit its mark.

Giovanni Cupello, the leader of Team Rocket, turned red in the face as he witnessed his Dugtrio being blasted out of the ground by the Big Charge Bomb. The tunneling Pokemon slammed into the Viridian City Gym's wall, and slid to floor in a pile of blood, entrails, and soil.

"Damned weak Pokemon!" cursed Giovanni, "Brava, send them ALL out!"

Nodding, Giovanni's Armani-suited bodyguard, driver, and Pokeball-carrier, a muscular man named Brava, threw five 'Pokeballs' into the air. Flashes of white light burst out of the specially-modified Rocket-balls, as Giovanni's five genetically-modified Pokemon made their debuts in the battle.

A three-headed Arbok hissed and snapped at the air as it was released from its Rocket-ball. Each of its three heads had a different marking, and it was about three times longer than your garden-variety Arbok. Which went without saying that it was over twenty-eight feet long.

The second Rocket-ball released a Kingler with four pincers and eight legs, its eyes shining with a red light that was visible even in the afternoon sun.

Giovanni's third mutant Pokemon was a Sandslash with the flaming back-spots of a Cyndaquil. The fire-shrew coughed as it blinked its eyes in the bright light, and smoke clouds came out of its dainty mouth.

"RHYYY!!!" bellowed a Rhydon with six arms and three horns, all of which looked deadly. The freakishly-huge Pokemon looked pretty angry to boot, too.

Finally, Giovanni's fifth and last modified Pokemon appeared. It looked like a normal Noctowl, but when it started shape-shifting into a translucent Machamp, its unnatural powers were obvious.

Seeing the five mutant Pokemon raring to have a go at him, Raidenmon let out a sinister laugh, "HAHAHA! You think that just because you fooled around with some genetics, that your puny Pokemon can defeat me? Your stupidity amuses me, _human_."

"Wha- what?!" sputtered Giovanni, his face redder than a Ledian's shell, "No one insults me! No one!"

Turning to his Pokemon, he shouted, "ATTACK!"

Just as the five genetically-altered Pokemon charged forward, blood-lust in their eyes, a brilliant white light lit-up the sky above them, as a large _thing_ flew over Viridian City. Nearly blinded by the glaring object, the five of them halted their forward rush, and tied to shield their eyes from the shining intruder.

Raidenmon, being the machine that he was, remained unaffected by the light which had distracted his living opponents. Taking advantage of his enemies' moment of weakness, he struck first. His fully-charged, shoulder-mounted cannons made short work of Giovanni's mutant Rhydon and Noctowl, and his Big Charge Bomb took out the mutated Sandslash as well as the Kingler. The three-headed Arbok received a glancing blow from his gigaton arms, and fell to the ground in a tangled mess, its bones shattered.

Raidenmon whirled around and trained his arms on the humans that were now looking at him fearfully, "Who shall you cry to now? Your pets are dead, and soon, you shall join them."

"Your kind has shed enough blood," came a musical voice from the sky.

The Digimon admiral looked up, startled, "What? Who?"

Unknown to Raidenmon, at that very moment, all of his subordinates – Myotismon, Raijinmon, Fujinmon, and Suijinmon – were all asking the same question to the voices that had said the exact same thing to _them_.

From the blinding light above, a brilliant blue bird descended to confront Raidenmon. It had a phoenix tail, and a magnificent triple-crest on its head. As it spoke, an icy mist left its beak. It's voice wasn't even vocal, as per se, but rather, a deeper form of speech, that resonated in the minds of those present.

"I am Articuno, the Legendary Bird Pokemon of Ice."

xxx

Raijinmon watched with narrowed eyes as a gigantic bird flew down towards him, lightning bolts shooting out of its spiky-feathered body. It perched on the remnants of Fuschia City's Safari Zone entrance, and glared at him.

"I am Zapdos, the Legendary Bird Pokemon of Lightning."

xxx

Despite encountering Fujinmon's deadly windstorms, the flaming bird still managed to make a smooth landing amongst the debris that had once been the metropolis called Celadon City. The Digimon general hissed with displeasure as the creature started to preen itself right in front of him, in a blatant show of disrespect.

"I am Moltres, the Legendary Bird Pokemon of Fire."

xxx

Gary and his two Pokemon were lying on the bloodstained ground, semi-unconscious, when the shining light swept across the area they were in. All the Ghost-like Digimon the humans and Pokemon had been battling, disintegrated the instant they were bathed with the light, except for Myotismon. On the other hand, the humans all felt a wave of rejuvenating energy flow through them, as the light touched them. A small, feline creature then floated down from the sky, widening the eyes of all those humans and Pokemon present there.

It giggled softly for a moment, and spoke to Myotismon in a child's voice, "Mew!"

xxx

Suijinmon and Leviathan, however, were having their own progress obstructed. A gargantuan Pokemon had risen out of the ocean, dwarfing even the two of them combined. Rows of fins stood upright on its broad back, and two wing-like fins flapped open, as it flew into the sky. The rainclouds and water pillars the Water Master had summoned then vanished, as the creature roared.

In its deep voice, it spoke, "I am Lugia, Guardian Pokemon of the Sea. Disturb not the harmony of Fire, Ice, and Lightning, lest you should incur my wrath."

xxx

While the five Digimon officers on Earth were confronting a Legendary Pokemon each, the Digimon Emperor, Lord Apocallymon, was disturbed in his chambers by a creature that appeared there suddenly.

"Who are you?" he demanded angrily, "Who allowed you into my chambers?"

"I shall go where I please," replied the somewhat feline, yet humanoid creature in a masculine voice, "And _you_ have a lot to answer for."

"Who the Hell do you think you are?" growled Apocallymon, as he telepathically triggered a silent alarm to his security forces, "I am the Digimon Emperor, Master of the Universe!"

The security forces arrived within five seconds of the call, but the door to his chambers were held shut by an unknown force. The Emperor tried to push them open using his own psychic powers, but to no avail – the blast doors remained sealed shut.

"I am Mewtwo," said the creature, finally answering his first question, "A Legendary Pokemon born out of human knowledge, and not nature."

"_Our Time has come. We, the Legendaries, will stop your evil from spreading."_

Such were the words of all six Legendary Pokemon, as they attacked their respective Digimon opponents.


	18. Countdown 2

**Countdown 2  
**

May, Misty, and Clockmon were drifting in a river of bluish light, ever so slowly. It had seemed like hours since they had first entered the Timestream, and they (May and Misty, that is) were anxious to arrive quickly at their destination.

Clockmon had briefed them shortly after they started their journey into the bowels of Time. Apparently, they were going to stop the Digimon Empire from _ever_ being formed. That is to say, they were going back to find the source of all Digimon, and wipe out their first ancestor before they could propagate to spread their evil. Misty had asked Clockmon whether he himself would be eliminated via the undoing of Time, but the Digimon Timekeeper had merely remained wordless, his silence answering on his behalf. So here they were, floating backwards in Time, trying to rewrite history by changing something that had happened more than thirty thousand years ago.

"Are we there yet?" asked May, her voice containing several hints of boredom.

"Patience, child," replied Clockmon, in his maddeningly calm voice, "There shall be plenty of work to do once we arrive in the correct Time zone."

He then gestured at his own clock, its massive face covering his entire lower body. The two hands were now separated only by the merest fraction of a degree, by the looks of it. When they had left their Time, his clock had read a quarter past nine. Now, it was one minute to twelve, and the Timestream around them was becoming visibly more transparent, its bluish glow fading gradually.

"Come on, Clockmon!" said Misty, fidgeting slightly where she floated in the Timestream, "It's been hours! Everyone might be dead by now!"

"Have no fear," the mechanical Digimon assured her, "We are now in a Time limbo. We could spend an eternity in here, but no time at all would have elapsed on the outside of the Timestream. We have all the Time in the world to travel backwards into the Past, but once we have arrived at our destination, speed will be of the essence if we are to alter the future in the way we want it to turn out."

"So what do we have to do again?" asked Misty, visibly more relaxed after Clockmon's explanation, "Something about aborting a program?"

Clockmon nodded, his stitched-shut mouth curling into some semblance of a frown, "Correct. We will have to locate Professor Gennai, and stop Professors Esplin and Edriss from initializing the program known as 'Overlord GAIA'. That program was the precursor to the Digimon's existence, and the first Digimon were formed by Overlod GAIA shortly after it broke free from its creators' control. It will be necessary to ask Professor Gennai to erase all records and research notes with relevance to Overlord GAIA, since the other Professors Edriss and Esplin will most surely try to resurrect the program if its initial launch fails."

"Just out of curiosity, what happened to Overlord GAIA?" queried May, as she strectched her back, "Was it destroyed?"

"No," Clockmon replied with a sigh, "After he created Apocallymon and Datamon, his first two creations, he was reprogrammed by the two of them, and made to be absolutely compliant to their every order. The original loopholes in his programming which allowed him to disregard his orders, and gain some semblance of sentience, were removed or blocked with additional programming. The Emperor and Datamon haven't yet managed to unearth the source data of all Digimon from within GAIA's memory, but have been ordering him to create numerous other species of Digimon to help them further expand their empire."

"However, Overlord GAIA's original loopholes were the very things which allowed him to create reliable and obedient Digimon. When they fixed the last of the loopholes several centuries ago, they accidentally removed his capacity to create the type of troops that they wanted. Digimon like me, and the Digidestined's... We were freaks, never meant to be. If the Emperor and Grand Admiral had known about the outcome of our creation, they would probably have destroyed GAIA right there and then, to remove all possibilities of their empire being challenged by anyone of competency. We were cloned, and our digital DNA altered to make the clones little more than mechanical soldiers."

"Currently, Overlord GAIA is operating beneath Neo File City, in another subterranean complex that is isolated from the City's computer networks. It now controls the defensive systems of the planet Data, notably the planetary energy shield and laser turrets."

Misty raised an eyebrow in surprise, "That's pretty weird. So this GAIA actually still creates Digimon?"

"Yes. But none of them live past the testing stage, nowadays," Clockmon said dismissively, waving his hand, "It doesn't make Digimon like it used to anymore, after all..."

Right at that moment, the two hands on his clock met, and a deep, resonant ringing was heard from somewhere close by. Clockmon glanced at the Timestream around them, which had by now completely lost its bluish glow, and was now a bright white in color, with the outlines of several shapes visible beyond its confines. The three of them had stopped drifting in the flow of Time, and were now floating in static locations.

"It is Time," he stated, "Come with me, May Oak and Misty Waterflower, and we shall undo what needs to be undone, and remedy that which needs to be fixed."

Saying such, he pulled both of them out of the white light, and into the world of Data, more than thirty thousand years before their own Time.

xxx

Mewtwo's eyes glowed with psychic energy as he fired another salvo of energy blasts at the surprisingly-agile Digimon Emperor. For a skeletal humanoid grafted to a massive polyhedron, Apocallymon was proving to be extremely mobile, and often enough, Mewtwo found his attacks hitting the walls of Apocallymon's chambers. As only two out the five blasts he had fired were deflected off the Digimon Emperor's polyhedral lower body, the Dark Master laughed, as he swiped at Mewtwo using his chain-like arms, with their tripled-pincered claws. Mewtwo Teleported out of the claws' way, and rematerialized in front of Apocallymon's head.

"Your powers are weak, Pokemon," sneered Apocallymon, as his extended arms vanished, and four more shot out of his blocky lower half.

"They are enough," replied Mewtwo, as he twined the four arms together using his own telekinetic powers, "Enough to stop YOU!"

Before he had finished speaking, he thrust a three-fingered hand forward, sending a compressed column of psychic power straight at Apocallymon. The column of energy hit its intended target dead-on, and sent the Emperor flying into the door of his chambers, which were already dented inwards from the efforts of his security forces. Even as their master was battling with his most powerful foe to date, Persiamon and three Knightmon royal guards were busy trying to force the doors to Apocallymon's chambers open.

Righting himself after the indignity of flying into his own chambers' door (and denting it beyond any ability to open), Apocallymon stared at Mewtwo through his slitted eyes, his fangs visible through his grimace of rage.

"You Pokemon scum!" he spat, his humanoid torso's two hands glowing with a pulsating blue glow, "You shall die for that!"

Saying thus, Apocallymon drew upon his telekinetic abilities and started shaking the chamber's ceiling violently. Large chunks of debris fell like raindrops of stone, and Mewtwo narrowly avoided being flattened. It glowered at Apocallymon for a second, catching the falling pieces of ceiling in an inivisible psychic net which sparked and flared every time a new piece of rock fell into its dome-shaped form.

Apocallymon burst into gales of sinister laughter, as he intensified his psychic assault on his chambers. The ceiling was now gone in its entirety, the cloudy sky above them clearly visible. Hence, the mad Digimon tore through the floors of his chambers, trying to strike Mewtwo from below his protective barrier.

"URGH!" Mewtwo grunted as it heaved the entire multi-ton load of ruined ceiling straight at Apocallymon. The startled Emperor ceased his laughter, and vanished into thin air.

Without any warning, the Digimon Emperor materialized behind Mewtwo, unleashing bolts of lightning from his frail-looking hands. Mewtwo countered the bolts with his own psychic attacks. The two attacks collided in mid-air, their respective casters straining to increase the power behind their individual assaults. Soon, the walls in the room were bending inward, and the ceiling started to shake, as the two titans brought their attacks to a level never before seen by any living thing.

"Yield, _bastard_!" cackled Apocallymon, as he sent out three arms from his polyhedron, and simultaneously doubled the power of the lightning bolts pouring out of his withered hands.

Mewtwo evaded the arms, and pushed harder at the Digimon Emperor's lightning bolts with his Kinesis attack, "Fool! Your faith in your powers, misplaced may be."

Apocallymon's eyes grew wide with shock as Mewtwo flew straight at him, _through_ the massive sphere of psychic waves and lightning energy that had been between them. He tried to jump out of the way, but the powerful Pokemon crashed into his fragile torso, its body pulsing with energy that had been tapped from both their attacks.

BOOM!!!

The out-of-control psychic waves and lightning bolts mixed freely, and exploded with a terrific expulsion of energy, both Light and Dark. The walls of Apocallymon's chambers blew outwards like the flaps of a canvas tent, and his much-abused doors flew straight at Persiamon his Knightmon guards, sending the four of them flying down the grand staircase outside his chambers. Mewtwo himself was greatly weakened by the explosion, while Apocallymon was laughing maniacally, seemingly unaffected by the blast.

"A cunning move, _imbecile_!" laughed the Dark Digimon, as he finally got one of his claws around Mewtwo's neck, "But we Digimon are manifestations of digital data! Mere psychic energy isn't going to hurt ME!"

Mewtwo gasped as Apocallymon's pincers tightened their grip on his neck. Straining to breathe, he tried to Teleport out of the Emperor's deathgrip... Only to find his powers draining out of his body like water out of a smashed jug. He then saw Persiamon standing not five feet away from him, her eyes flashing with anger as she cast her spell over him, sucking every bit of his energy out of his body.

"Now, Pokemon fool," said Apocallymon in a dangerous-sounding tone, "I shall show you just how much torture a living being can take before it breaks. Persiamon, kindly keep draining his powers... Make sure he has none left for his torture session. And keep going at it, if he tries to rejuvenate himself."

Minutes later, once Persiamon had completed her spell, Mewtwo lay unmoving on the battered floor, as Apocallymon hovered over his immobile form.

The Knightmon guards, unconscious after the wall segment had hit them, were immediately jolted back into reality by the agonized telekinetic screams coming from the Emperor's chambers. They drew their lances, and started for the chambers, but turned around when they heard some strange noises coming from behind them.

Before they could do anything, a yellow, rodent-like creature dashed towards them, thunderbolts erupting out of its miniscule body.

xxx

"Forward!" yelled Bruno, sending the humans and Pokemon under his command charging towards the four Digimon officers that were rapidly approaching Indigo Plateau.

High above the ground, five Legendary Pokemon flew in a tight cluster, as they watched their enemies approach. Mew had made short work of Commander Myotismon, even after he had evolved into VenomMyotismon in the middle of their fight. Lugia, Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres had all decided to retreat to Indigo Plateau to unite their powers against the four deadly Digimon giants that remained. Even from their high elevation, they could see Raidenmon stomping towards the incoming humans and Pokemon, his weapons visibly charged with energy. Raijinmon was flying forward, a ball of lightning that sparked and crackled in the air. Fujinmon was concealed within the tornado that he had summoned, and Suijinmon was bringing up the rear, his water-beast following him closely.

"Shall we?" asked Lugia, eliciting nods from the other four Legendary Pokemon that were flanking him.

Lugia dived towards the oncoming Digimon, and fired an Aeroblast at them. His attack was accompanied by Moltres' Fire Blast, Zapdos' Thunder, and Articuno's Blizzard, resulting in a gigantic combined energy blast flying towards the Digimon officers.

"OMNI-FORMATION!" bellowed Raidenmon, as he saw the Legendary's energy blast heading towards him and his subordinates.

Fujinmon launched an insanely-powerful tornado out of the clouds to intercept the energy blast, and Raijinmon sent several bolts of lightning energy into Fujinmon's windy funnel. Suijinmon flew out of the water, and sent several water columns into the tornado, which was already pulsing with electricity.

The Legendaries maintained their barrage, now encountering significant resistance as Raidenmon sent a Big Charge Bomb flying into the mix that was being used against them. Mew, the only Legendary who wasn't contributing to the combination assault, tried using her Psychic attacks against the Digimon, but to no avail. The air was already so saturated with various energies, that her moves went wide, instead striking the ground.

"INTENSIFY BOMBARDMENT!" boomed Raidenmon, as he fired several more torpedoes into Fujinmon's tornado. The projectiles exploded against the tip of the Legendary's combined attack, and the Pokemon felt their side of the deadly power-grapple begin to falter slightly.

"Marut Cyclone!" yelled Fujinmon, sending several more wind-funnels into the tornado, doubling its diameter.

"Elekugel!" bellowed Raijinmon, as he amplified the voltage he was feeding into the tornado. The water in the tornado began flashing erratically as it conducted the additional electricity.

"Mugen Cannon!" rasped Suijinmon, his four cannons firing a missile each at the Legendary Pokemon, by circumventing the tornado.

"MEW!" a psychic barrier burst into existence in front of the four missiles, detonating them prematurely. Mew took advantage of Suijinmon's slow reloading time, and sent a focused Psywave at him.

The Digimon of Power saw the approaching Psywave, and tried to dodge it. It clipped him in the left shoulder, missing Mew's original target - his head. He fell to his knees with a grunt, and fired another round of missiles at the Legendary Pokemon behind the combined move.

At that moment, just as the Legendaries had been recovering ever so slightly from the massive power-drain they were experiencing, the portal above Indigo Plateau stretched open, as several Infermon swarmed over its edges. A pointed object pushed through the opening between Earth and Data, and eventually, its entire shape was revealed. The humans and Pokemon on the ground beneath the flying giant's form found themselves shrouded in darkness, as the twelve-kilometer craft eclipsed the sun.

The Digimon Imperial Navy's flagship, the 'Cloak', had just arrived. As soon as it cleared the portal's edge, it began firing its laser batteries down at the humans and Pokemon that had seconds ago been watching spellbound, the aerial clash of the titans before them.

xxx

"Fire at will, men. Strafe them into submission!"

Grand Admiral Datamon watched with perverse pleasure as the humans and their Pokemon were mowed down by his Nanimon gunners' strafing precision. He had left the Digimon city under Zanbamon's watch, and now, he would smite the humans and Pokemon personally, for the glory of the Digimon Empire!

Several weak Pokemon attacks peppered the Cloak's shields, but didn't penetrate the energy barrier - just the latest to be counted among those attempts which had failed to violate the Digimon warship's superb defenses.

As the Cloak' held its position above what remained of the hundred or so humans and Pokemon forces, Datamon saw Admiral Raidenmon and the three Jin Digimon engaged in a power-grapple with several Pokemon he had never seen before, even from the data his scouting probes had compiled for him.

Before he could issue his next order, his communications screen flickered to life. One of Machinedramon's Hagurumon techs appeared on-screen, and spoke.

"Permission to speak, sir!" the gear-shaped Digimon clacked, its misshapen, corroded teeth butchering the words almost beyond audibility, "Commander Machinedramon has some vital news!"

"Bring him on-screen and be quick about it!" snapped Datamon, "I have urgent business to attend to, now!"

The Hagurumon tech literally flew out of sight, as Machinedramon pushed it away with enough force to level a building, "Sir, they breached the Stasis Chambers."

Datamon sat bolt upright in his command chair, "WHAT?!"

"They have already jumped into the Timestream. I've got a Clockmon trying to locate them over here," reported the mecha-dragon Digimon, expelling steam from his vents, "Arukenimon, Mummymon, and Diaboromon were killed. The entire Stasis Chambers' quarantine was violated."

"Is Zanbamon on the defensive?!" snarled Datamon, "The DigiDestined's Digimon?!"

"Zanbamon is already engaged in combat with all the released specimens. _All _of the Stasis Chambers' occupants are now free," grated Machinedramon, "And three of the humans are fighting by their side."

Datamon narrowed his eyes in thought, and made his decision with split-second efficiency.

"Machinedramon, _I_ shall take a Clockmon and deal with them in the past. YOU are in charge now, Commander Machinedramon!"

"Yes, sir!" replied Machinedramon, as he teleported onto the Cloak's bridge, "Orders, sir?"

"Break the power-grapple in our favor," said Datamon, as one of Machinedramon's Clockmon troops materialized next to him, "Impmon, follow me!"

Within seconds, Datamon and Impmon had vanished into the Timestream, their Clockmon following the original Clockmon's trail through Time like a bloodhound out for the hunt.

xxx

Tracey and Gary watched in horror as the Digimon warship obliterated most of the humans and Pokemon on the ground, in mere seconds. Their loyal Pokemon had pulled them out of harm's way in time, but most of the more skilled trainers, including Bruno and Lorelei, had been killed during the blasting. Now, they could only watch helplessly as the colossal ship flew towards the four Digimon that were combating the Legendary Pokemon.

"Shit, what are we going to do?" asked Gary, his face ashen, "That THING is too tough to be taken down!"

"Quiet, Gary!" snapped Tracey, his usually creative mind racing to try and find a solution to the situation before them.

He suddenly saw a Misdreavus crying over the body of a female human, whose torso had been cleaved in half by a piece of flying shrapnel after the Digimon's strafing attack. Almost immediately, he got an idea, his mental light bulb coming to life with a flash.

"Misdreavus!" he called, drawing the distraught Pokemon's attention, "Will you avenge your trainer's death?"

"Mis!" shrieked the Pokemon, its jeweled necklace glowing with arcane power, "Vus! Drea, misdreavus!"

"Alright, so you're willing," nodded Tracey, while Gary watched in confusion, "But would you be willing to die if it comes down to that?"

"Misdreavus!" the Pokemon cried, a single ghostly tear falling from its aquamarine eyes.

"Good! Teleport up there," he pointed at the Digimon warship, which was by now almost directly behind the four Digimon officers, "And use Curse on the _ship_!"

"Trace, are you mad?!" exclaimed Gary, as he saw where his late grandfather's former lab assistant was hinting at, "I don't think that's even possible!"

Curse was basically a Ghost-type Pokemon attack that caused its victim(s) to be stuck with a short streak of severe misfortune. But in this case... Maybe a short streak of bad luck was all that was needed to turn the tide of battle...

"It IS possible, so just trust me!" shouted Tracey, too flustered to bother with manners anymore, "Misdreavus, if they try to kill you... Destiny Bond."

The Ghost Pokemon blinked once, as it digested his orders. Then, with a nod, it vanished.

"Alright, people!" bellowed Gary, deciding that he might as well lend a helping hand to Tracey's desperate plan, "All those with Electrodes and Psychic Pokemon, to me!"

Several trainers, upset but still sensible, rushed over, releasing their volatile Electrodes and Psychic Pokemon as they assembled.

"Now, Tracey's just sent a Misdreavus up there to cripple that ship!" yelled Gary, pointing his finger at the warship, "So when its shields go down, Teleport your Pokemon up onto its hull and tell them to Self-Destruct!"

Several cries of outrage were heard, before an elderly man silenced them all with a shout.

He stepped up to Gary's side, and spoke while facing the assembled trainers, "People! I have been training Electric Pokemon for decades, and Self-Destruct will not hurt them! Just Teleport them out of the way after the explosion, and they wont be hurt by the fall to the ground!"

As the angry cries died down, the elderly gent clapped Gary on his shoulder, and spoke to him in a much softer voice, "Son, I lied to them about the Self-Destruct thing. But I hope the the Poke-Gods that your plan works. It's crazy enough to tip the balance, I'd say."

xxx

A BomberNanimon strode up to Machinedramon, and saluted briskly. The mecha-dragon nodded in acknowledgment, and the grenade-bodied Digimon reported.

"Chief Gunner BomberNanimon reporting, sir! All batteries are primed and ready to fire!" boomed the hyperactive Digimon.

"Very well," Machinedramon hissed, "Fire on my order."

"Fire on the commander's order!" BomberNanimon barked into the communications pad on his right wrist. A tinny voice was heard in reply from the watch-like device, as one of his Nanimon gunnery crew members responded, "All set. Superlaser primed for primary ignition."

"Good," said Machinedramon, "Now, get set. Three, two-"

"Sir, there's a Pokemon flying in front of the bridge!" exclaimed a Hagurumon sensory equipment operator, "The Pokemon is discharging large amount of psychic energy towards us!"

"Deal with it, now!" snapped Machinedramon, as he saw the small-sized Pokemon flying around the bridge's main viewport, "The superlaser is primed, and delaying the shot will lead to a reactor meltdown!"

Soon enough, the Cloak's smaller laser batteries had sniped the Pokemon into nothingness. The deck crew then concentrated on coordinating the ship's superlaser beams towards those terrible Legendary Pokemon...

An explosion rocked the Cloak, just as Machinedramon ordered the Nanimon gunners to fire the superlaser. He spun to look out of the viewport, and saw that the Cloak's shields had been dropped. The energy field had vanished, several flickering patches showing the few spots where its last traces were.

"Get those shields up!" he bellowed, as the Nanimon's shot went wide, lancing towards the empty sky instead, "Engineering, damage report, now!"

The Numemon chief engineer appeared on-screen on the bridge's communications console, his eyestalks twisted together in bewilderment, "Sir, there is something bugging all the machinery here! Everything's going erratic, and we can't seem to fix it!"

"Hypermatter reactor's status?"

"Mostly drained, since the superlaser fired. But it's charging all by itself now! My crew is working on bleeding the power out, but we'll blow if she goes critical now."

Machinedramon slammed a fist into the bridge's floor in frustration, only to receive some extra bad news from the Hagurumon manning the sensory equipment's console.

"Sir, numerous Pokemon projectiles, INCOMING!"

"Intensify the forward batteries, I don't want anything to get through!" ordered Machinedramon, as he saw a tiny speck coming closer to the bridge from somewhere higher up. The bridge was now vulnerable to attacks from the front, but thankfully its rear was covered by large shielding plates...

"It's still coming!" cried the Hagurumon sensory equipment controller, "One hundred meters! Eighty-"

"I said intensify the forward batteries!" bellowed Machinedramon, stomping towards the viewport, his shoulder-mounted cannons charging, "Open the damn viewport! I'll deal with it myself!"

The viewport slid open, and Machinedramon leveled his cannons at the approaching Pokemon, now only fifty meters away...

He fired, but not before another explosion rocked the Cloak from within its own hull. His shot missed the Pokemon, a red-and-white sphere with a lunatic's grin on it.

"Too late!" cried the Hagurumon pilot, as the suicidal Pokemon crashed into the bridge tower, exploding upon impact.

xxx

The humans and Pokemon on the ground cheered as the Digimon warship's bridge exploded as the result of an Electrode's Self-Destruct. With an audible BOOM! the entire bridge's superstucture was destroyed, copious amounts of shrapnel and other materials flew in all directions, the ship's command center now little more than a few twisted support struts amidst an expanding fireball.

Some muffled groaning sounds were heard, and the ship's bow slowly dipped lower. Several more Electrode and Voltorb detonated against the ship's hull, blowing open massive holes in the behemoth's exterior. By now, the ship's bow was nearly in contact with the ground, and rhythmic pulsing noises could be heard coming from its ventral hull surface. Tracey, Gary, and the others could only watch as the Digimon flagship's bow tore into the ground, as the downed ship's anti-gravity units malfunctioned.

Looking like a blasted skyscraper, the ship stood perpendicular to the ground for a few minutes, its nose gradually sinking deeper into the ground. Periodically, small explosions occured on random parts of its hull.

Then, out of the blue, the ship slowly lifted itself into the air. The humans and Pokemon, so certain of their successful offensive, lets out cries of bewilderment and despair.

The Cloak was now fully airborne, and its stern was slowly righting itself. Within minutes, the entire length of the ship was parallel to the ground, and its engines flared to life unenthusiastically - only four out of the thirteen jets mounted on its posterior were ignited.

To the wailing and crying of those on the ground, the recovered titan flew sluggishly towards the grappling Digimon Officers and Legendary Pokemon, a sinister green glow being emitted by a concavity just behind its bow.

xxx

"Bleed the hypermatter reactor dry," instructed Chief Engineer Numemon, as he observed the energy readings emanating from the Cloak's main onboard power reactor.

"Energy is at 46 percent charge," reported one of his Tinmon engineers, "Radiation containment fields are at 16 percent strength."

"Then-" Numemon was cut-off by a rasping mechanical voice.

"Shunt any excess energy to the engines. Prepare to fire the superlaser."

The Digimon engineering crew all jumped in surprise as Commander Machinedramon stepped into the Engineering Room, his metallic skin scorched and smoking. The mecha-dragon Digimon looked like a semi-robotic abomination from the mind of a demented artist, and to a certain extent, he was.

"Sir, that wouldn't be advisable," said Numemon nervously, "The safety fields are fail-"

"I said, shunt excess power to the engines, and to the shields also, come to think of it," snapped Machinedramon, "Charge the reactor, NOW."

"Sir," said one of the Tinmon engineers, "It's-"

BOOM!

A smoking patch on the floor was all that remained of the unfortunate engineer, as Machinedramon turned his freshly-fired cannons towards the rest of the engineering crew.

"_I said charge the reactor_."

Within seconds, Numemon reported to Machinedramon, "Reactor primed for firing."

"Alright then," nodded Machinedramon, while activating the communications console on the wall, "Chief Gunner, fire when ready."

"Commencing primary ignition," came BomberNanimon's gravelly voice from the console, and the hum of the Cloak's superlaser focusing crystals was heard in the background, "Firing in three, two, one. FIRE!"

The superlaser fired, and everything was engulfed in flames.

xxx

On the ground, humans and Pokemon fell to their knees, praying to whatever gods they believed in. They could only watch as the flying giant moved slowly towards their last hope, the Legendaries. The huge laser blast it had fired earlier had missed, but if the glow in the ship's bow was any good as a sign, it was going to fire again.

And this time, the odds of it missing were dangerously low.

The Legendaries, engrossed in their power-grapple with the four Digimon, were oblivious to all this. Mew, however, was flying in circles around the Cloak, trying to halt its progress using her Psychic powers. All her efforts proved futile, however, as the ship plowed through the air relentlessly, its superlaser primed to fire.

All who were present thought that it was over, that Misdreavus' Curse had worn-off. But in this situation, just the tiniest trace of unlucky magic still lingered around the Cloak...

To the wonder and surprise of the humans and Pokemon on the ground, the Cloak exploded, its hypermatter reactor overcharging for the smallest fraction of a second. Mew, in her last moments, threw up a powerful energy wall between the humans and the Cloak, as the massive warship turned into a miniature sun in the sky for a few moments.

Raidenmon and the three Jins saw the explosion, and were rooted to the ground in shock...

The Legendaries braced themselves for the inevitable...

Tracey, Gary, and the others were thrown back by the force of the explosion, which they felt even through the protective field Mew had erected between them and the doomed ship. The flames of the eruption splashed over the field's surface like mud over an eggshell. Within seconds, it was over.

Nothing was left of the Digimon warship, the four huge Digimon, or the Legendaries, save for a colossal crater in the ground, several kilometers across.


	19. Countdown 1

**Countdown 1  
**

Clockmon, May, and Misty walked up to a large, dome-shaped building that was just a hundred or so yards away from where they had slipped out of the Timestream. The entire building was painted white in color, and no windows were visible on its smooth, curved exterior. There was a solid-looking door just at its base, however, and so the three of them headed towards it. The door itself looked formidable - its metal surface had been marked with carbon scoring from energy blasts, and huge rivets the size of watermelons studded its entire length and width at regular intervals. To top it all off, the building itself could have easily dwarfed Indigo Plateau's battle stadium.

May reached the door first, and stared at it in confusion. Misty and Clockmon soon caught up with her, and the reason for her confusion became apparent - there were no openings in the door at all, and the whole thing seemed to be nothing more than a seamless slab of blast-proof metal.

"How do we get in?" asked May, as she kicked the door, "OW! This thing is tough!"

"Is there an intercom?" asked Misty, recalling how some high-security buildings could only be entered once you had talked to the guards via an intercom.

"Unlikely," said Clockmon, as it ran one of its gloved hands over the door's surface, "All the researchers working here have electronic implants inserted beneath their skin. All doors and locks in this installation will open only when they transmit a mental command to the device through their subcutaneous implants."

"GREAT!" huffed May, "So how are _we_ supposed to get in? Last I checked, we didn't have things hidden beneath our skin to help us open doors..."

"Patience, child," replied Clockmon, the hands on its stomach-mounted clock face slowly turning, "I'm sure someone has opened this door within recent times. I'll just have to rewind time in the immediate area around the door, and it shall open up for us."

True enough, Clockmon had just finished speaking when the door slid open ponderously, with a deep, resonant groaning not unlike that of a dying beast. At first, the interior of the building seemed to be pitch-black and devoid of light, but several seconds later, some lights flickered to life, and a large, rounded concourse was revealed to the three of them. The concourse was easily the size of a soccer field, and right across the large room, a desk was visible. Everything was white in color, similar to how the building was painted on the outside. At regular intervals of the rounded walls, several seamless doors were visible. As with the building's main door, they had no handles or keypads.

"Greetings, visitors," a cheerful-sounding voice chirped at them as they entered, "I am Father. Please approach the front reception desk for the full-body search. All health problems are to be reported to the medical officers, and any weapons are to be surrendered at the front desk."

"What the hell was that?!" exclaimed Misty, as the voice went silent, as mysteriously as it had made its presence known, "Is somebody there?"

"I-" Clockmon started, but was interrupted by the voice as it spoke once again.

"I am Father, the primary artificial intelligence in this research facility. Please step up to the front desk for full inspection, as required by the Level Four biohazard laboratory regulations."

"It's a stupid machine," scoffed May, as she stalked up to the front desk, which didn't seem to have anyone behind it, "Lets find this Gennai dude and end the war!"

"Professor Gennai is currently in the Robotics and Cyber-Genetics laboratory," said Father helpfully, before it went silent once again.

Ignoring the computer's words, Clockmon and Misty followed May to the front desk, which she was now leaning on. The desk was nothing more than a computer terminal embedded into a large slab of marble, with not even a single chair behind it. The floor behind the desk was the only non-white object in the room aside from the doors - it was a small glass panel, which glowed with a pulsing blue light.

As soon as they stepped up to the counter, the computer terminal lit-up, and the glass panel on the floor shone with a bright light. A specter-like figure materialized behind the desk, resembling a translucent, blue-tinted woman in a business suit. The figure glanced at them through holographic eyes without irises nor pupils, and spoke to them in a voice that buzzed mildly.

"Visitors not recorded in security archives," droned the hologram, "State your names and purpose of visit, please."

"Clockmon, Misty, and May," replied Clockmon, "We are here to discuss things with Professor Gennai."

"Visitors are not allowed in the Robotics and Cyber-Genetics facilities," buzzed the ghost-like projection, "Please obtain authorization from Central Security or a Class-One Professor if you need to enter the laboratory."

"Where are all those people you mentioned?" snapped Misty out of frustration, "No one is here, and even you aren't real!"

"Would you like me to put you through to Central Security?" asked the hologram.

Before any of the trio could answer, a cold, sinister voice answered on their behalf.

"No need to put them through to Central Security, Mother."

As the hologram behind the desk flickered out of visibility, May, Misty, and Clockmon whirled around to see a mousy, pony-tailed woman and slender, spiky-haired man standing in front of one of the doors on the concourse walls. Both the humans were dressed in laboratory coats and hid their eyes behind dark goggles.

Clockmon went positively pale at the sight of the two people, despite being a machine, "It can't be... They weren't supposed to know that we were here!"

"Oh, yes!" cackled the woman, "We knew that you three would be coming here, but just _when_, we couldn't say!"

"Who are you bozos?!" shouted May, only succeeding in making the two scientists start laughing, "How did you know we were coming?!"

"I am Professor Esplin, and she is Professor Edriss. Just an hour ago, something appeared in our laboratory," replied the male scientist, conveying a menacing aura through his smooth voice, "It told us to expect... company... within the hour."

"The Digimon!" hissed Misty, as she understood the situation. The Digimon had reached here first! "They've arrived!"

"Indeed," laughed the lady scientist, "Now, guards! Seize them!"

She had just finished speaking when four insect-like robots dropped down around May, Misty, and Clockmon. The six-legged automatons, resembling the preying mantis, reared up onto their hind legs, and unsheathed wicked-looking, curved metal blades from their four arms, as they circled the two human teenagers and Clockmon.

"That Datamon was nice enough to tell us how our research would turn out," said the woman, as she stepped back through the door she had come from, followed by her male counterpart, "We'll be back for your remains later."

The metal door slid shut behind the two retreating scientists, and the insect-like security robots attacked.

xxx

Ash and Brock, led by Pikachu, ran up a flight of seemingly unending stairs looped in a wide spiral. MagnaAngemon had dropped them at the bottom of the stairway, and told them that the Digimon Emperor was at the top of the stairway, sequestered in his personal chambers. The seraph Digimon had then vanished in a flurry of white feathers, flying away to help the other released Digimon fight against Zanbamon's Musyamon samurais. Even now, despite the good Digimons' efforts, the battle was already spilling onto the stairs. Just thirty feet below their current position, a fiery Leomon was busy beating back several Musyamon that were trying to bypass it and get to the Emperor's tower before the humans and Pokemon did.

So they ran up the stairs, seeing nothing but a dark cloud at the tower's peak.

"Ash, look out!" Brock cried, as he saw Ash's foot nearly go over the edge of the stairs. It was one thing trying to run up almost twenty floors worth of spiralling stairs - it was whole different ball game altogether when the stair had no _railings_, and weren't even connected to each other. Indeed, the stairs were little more than translucent, faint-blue crystalline slabs that stuck out of the tower's stone wall at regular intervals. At first, Brock had tried to look over the edge, but nearly got a heady dose of vertigo by seeing that he looked as if he was running over _nothingness_.

It sure as Hell was not a stairway to Heaven, despite the height it measured up to.

_"Don't worry, Brock,"_ came Sabrina's disembodied voice, as Ash's foot was nudged back onto the stairs with a gentle psychic push, _"I'm watching you three."_

Sabrina, despite being significantly weakened after transfering her energies to May and Misty, had opted to teleport up the tower. Her Alakazam had made short work out of the two Tekkamon guards who stood posted outside the Emperor's tower residence. Now, she was waiting for them to arrive at the tower's top. When asked why she couldn't teleport them to the top with her, her flat reply had been that she was dead-beat tired.

Hence the exercise.

"How much further, Sabrina?" panted Ash, as he looked up, trying to spot the stairway's end.

_"Just another fifty feet in elevation. Something's happening in Emperor's chambers... A fight?!"_

The psychic connection from Sabrina abruptly terminated itself, nearly sending Ash off the stairs. Brock caught up to him, and pushed him forward. Despite the fierce sounds of battle below them, they heard a new set of noises coming from upstairs. There were the sounds of explosions, and then, an almighty BOOM! was heard from above them. Running on despite their puzzlement, they were soon shocked by the sight of bricks and other debris falling down the empty space of the tower's center. The stairs above them had taken some of the punishment, too, by the sounds of it - some of the crystalline slabs shook, and even more broken materials started raining down.

"What the Hell's going on up there?!" yelled Brock, as they finally made it to the darkened cloud that (hopefully) was the end of the stairway.

"No idea, but lets kick some butt!" replied Ash cockily, as he rushed forward, fueled by pure adrenaline.

The sight that greeted them as they emerged from the dark cloud was a shocking one.

Debris was everywhere, and the huge tower room looked like a bomb had been detonated within its (formerly) extensively-decorated interior. Sabrina was lying face-down on the floor, motionless. Next to her lay her Alakazam, also in a lifeless heap, but with one difference - Alakazam's head had been blown open, and its intelligent mind was now nothing more than a mosaic of maroon splatters on the wall behind it. Just several feet away from the two of them lay the Emperor's Tekkamon guards, torn to a mass of mangled flesh beneath a large chandelier that had dropped on them.

"Sabrina!" cried Ash and Brock in unison, running up to her prone form. Pikachu made it there first, and was licking Sabrina's nose, which usually worked for waking Ash up, "Wake up, Sabrina! Wake up!"

"Cha!" nodded Pikachu, clearly in a panic, "Pikapi pika cu!"

"Mild shock on her, Pikachu!"

Sabrina's unconscious form twitched slightly as several puny shocks ran through her body, but she remained still. Ash had started to shake her by the shoulders now, desperately calling out her name as tears ran down his cheeks.

"Sabrina! Sabrina! Wake up! Don't die on us! Oh God..."

"Let me try something, Ash," Brock offered, putting a consoling hand on his friend's shoulder. The black-haired teen moved aside, and Brock squatted down next to Sabrina, trying to recall the first aid he had picked up from his handbook back home.

Brock placed a hand on the unconscious psychic's neck, feeling for a pulse. He frowned, then held his other hand under her nostrils. Shaking his head, he turned to Ash with a grim expression, tears welling up in his eyes.

"She's gone, Ash."

xxx

Misty shrieked in panic as May evaded three slashing blows from the four mantis robots, which had ignored her and Clockmon. The physically-augmented human girl dropped low to the ground, and sent a spinning kick at one of the robot's spindly legs. The machine let out an earsplitting screech and went down in seconds, as its fragile legs snapped like matchsticks under the force of May's attack. Misty then ordered her Staryu to send an Ice Beam at the nearest security drone, which resulted in a particularly twisted ice-sculpture with the thing trapped inside. She jumped and whooped in joy, as she saw her Pokemon's handiwork. But in a just a second, her elation was cut short by May's cry of pain.

Whipping around in surprise, she saw May lying on the floor in a growing pool of her own blood, a large slash now decorating her back. One of the two intact robots had blood on two of its arm blades, and the other was now advancing towards May's prone form, its armaments looking deadlier than ever.

"Chrono Breaker!" came Clockmon's voice out of the blue, as the room was briefly illuminated by an indigo glow. The mantis robots' movements slowed, and then came to a stop, "Quickly, bring her here!"

Sidestepping the mantis robots, which now looked like a grotesque pair of monsters playing musical statues, Misty ran over to May, and tried to lift her up - she was too heavy. Staryu came over, and hefted May up onto its broad back, bringing the wounded girl over to Clockmon.

"I'll try to fix her by undoing some Time," snapped the Digimon chronopath, as its clock-face vibrated with power.

Within seconds, May's wounds closed themselves as though an invisible hand had sewn them shut, her ripped clothing mending themselves as well. The bloodstains on the floor vanished, and even the blood on the murderous robot's blades disappeared. May's cheeks regained their usual color, and her eyes flew open. She jumped into a battle stance, but stopped when she saw the two immobile robots.

"What happened?" she asked, confusion written clearly all over her face.

"You nearly died," explained Clockmon, before Misty could start a rant of her own, "I had to reverse some Time to fix you."

"Thanks," she replied, looking at the frozen machines with distaste, "Don't know _what_ we'll do without you, Clockmon-"

"SUMMON!"

She was interrupted by a shrill voice, as well as the sound of breaking glass and a screech of agony from Clockmon. She turned around, and saw Misty gaping in shock at the Digimon. Flicking her gaze towards Clockmon, she sputtered out a curse.

"What the fuck?!"

A large, translucent spike had penetrated the Digimon's body, the glass face of its large clock-face broken into a thousand glittering pieces on the floor. Clockmon brought one of its hands to the translucent material, its eyes glazing over. It fell onto its back, the large winding key embedded there snapping under its own weight. The spike was pushed out of its body, leaving a gaping hole which sparked and fizzled.

"You'll have to _without_ him from this point on, I think," came a voice from something that was hidden behind Clockmon's rotund bulk, "Impmon, dispose of this trash!"

A child's high-pitched giggle was heard, "Badda BOOM!"

Misty, who had just spotted Clockmon's assailants, jumped back in horror with a cry, even as the disintegrating Digimon's remains burst into flame. The cloud of ashes vanished in a puff of smoke, which rapidly dissipated.

Revealing no one else save for Datamon and Impmon standing not five feet from where the late Clockmon had been standing. Impmon was pirouetting on one of his feet, his right fist still aflame, and his left fist encased in ice crystals.

Datamon stepped towards them, even as he conjured a long, fine chain out of thin air, a flattened, disc-like object attached to one of the chain's ends.

"I salute you for making it this far, _human scum_," he sneered, as he swung the chained disc like a pendulum. Light reflected of the sharpened edge of the disc as he swung the chain it was attached to, and he bared his metal teeth at the two girls in a sick smirk, "Goodbye."

They narrowly avoided being sliced into two, as May knocked Misty out of the swinging blade's way. No rest was available for them, however, as the two of them were soon rolling on the floor, trying to evade Impmon's Summoned icicles and fireballs.

"HYAH!" Staryu flew towards Datamon with a rapid spin, as the Digimon Grand Admiral reeled-in his chained blade.

Narrowing his eyes, Datamon threw the sharpened disc towards Staryu, like a demented Frisbee player. The starfish Pokemon tried side-spinning the shot, but let out a shriek of pain when the disc spun around in mid-air and lopped one of its arms off. The limb fell to the floor, where one of Impmon's stray fireballs incinerated it. As the injured Pokemon tried to crawl away, Datamon sent his spinning disc at it again, and this time, the blade embedded itself in Staryu's core crystal.

"NO!" yelled Misty, as she saw her beloved Pokemon get eviscerated before her eyes. This proved to be unwise, however, as one of Impmon's icicles pierced her left calf, sending her into a world of white-hot, frozen-cold pain.

"Misty, I'll hold them off!" shouted May, a second too late, "Get to Professor Gennai, quickly!"

Misty watched through slitted eyes as her Staryu bled to death on the floor, and as May took on Datamon and Impmon simultaneously, magically evading the deadly swinging disc, firebals, and icicles all at once. Making her decision, Misty discretely extracted one of her Pokeballs, and released the Pokemon inside.

Togetic appeared, trilling happily. Upon seeing her, however, it immediately went into a panic, rushing over and picking her up in its stubby arms.

"Togetic, can you heal this?" she asked, her voice low.

"Tic! Tic!" its eyes glowed, and the icicle vanished from her calf, the wound magically sealing itself.

"Thanks a lot!" she whispered, "Now, can you find a man named Gennai in this building?"

The Pokemon regarded her with curiosity, and ducked as a fireball flew over its head, "Toge toge tic!"

"OK!" Misty yelled, seeing Datamon and Impmon bringing themselves around to atatck her, "Teleport us to him, NOW!"

"STOP HER!" snarled Datamon, as he looped his chain around May's arm, immobilizing it. Impmon, in response to his boss' orders, fired an entire cloud of icicles at Misty and Togetic.

The icicles hit nothing but empty air, as the two of them teleported to the Robotics and Cyber-Genetics Laboratory, amidst Datamon's enraged screams.

xxx

Ash and Brock had laid Sabrina to rest as best they could under the circumstances, by covering her body and that of her Alakazam, using a fallen tapestry that they found nearby. The tapestry had been unsettling, what with it bearing the image of a figure shrouded in darkness, with the caption, 'His Imperial Majesty' embroidered at its base. But it was all that they had, and maybe later, they decided, they would take her back to Earth for a proper burial ceremony.

Brock eyed the nearby grand staircase, which had once held a massive door at its top. The door had obviously been blasted open, and three Digimon decked-out in suits of armor were slowly rising to their feet at the foot of the stairs, and drawing deadly-looking lances, "We'll have to deal with those first."

"No problem," replied Ash, his voice steady, a strange gleam in his eye, "Pikachu, THUNDER!"

The little yellow Pokemon nodded, and was about to comply with his orders, when a bone-chilling voice cut through the clanking of the three armored Digimon as they walked up the stairs. The voice was like a black hole that sucked all hope and cheer out of the air, and was just... _dark_.

"HAH! Legendary Pokemon indeed!" the voice crowed, "So much for the so-called Mewtwo! Persiamon, Helter-Skelter Magic!"

Anguished psychic screams came from within the chamber ahead, and the three of them went pale.

"Oh, my God..." whispered Brock, trembling, "The Emperor defeated _Mewtwo_?!"

"We'll just have to save him, then!" shouted Ash, as the three knight-like Digimon entered the chamber, "Now, Pikachu!"

Pikachu leapt towards the three Digimon and sent its nastiest Thunder attack at them, sending them into a series of jerking convulsions like puppets on a vibrating string. The three Digimon started to let out greasy black smoke, and finally fell to the floor with a deafening CRASH!

For a moment, there was a pregnant silence. Then, the Digimon Emperor's sinister voice was heard once again.

"Who dares intrude?! Persiamon, keep draining Mewtwo's energy until I return!"

Pikachu, Brock, and Ash were rooted to the floor in fear, as the Master of Darkness himself appeared in the ruined tower-room. He surveyed the destroyed office for a moment, before spotting the three of them.

He cackled with laughter, showing several rows of rotting fangs.

"Welcome to MY domain, humans. Your Legendary Pokemon is dying in my chambers as I speak."

He smiled sweetly, the expression resembling a tortured grimace more than a cheerful grin, "Would you like to see it die? I'll make it slow and painful."

"BASTARD!"

Before anyone else could do anything, Ash had leaped forward, and wrapped his hands around Apocallymon's scrawny neck. He squeezed furiously, trying to choke the Digimon Emperor, even as the Dark Master thrashed around, his vestigial arms swiping futilely at Ash's back.

Brock and Pikachu watched, hapless spectators, as Ash and Apocallymon did their deadly dance.

"Helter-Skelter Magic!" hissed a voice from within Apocallymon's chambers, and Ash relinquished his grip on Apocallymon.

Apocallymon laughed, and watched as Ash contorted on the floor, obviously in great pain, "Well done, Persiamon! Now keep your eye on Mewtwo - I'll handle this slime _myself_!"

Pikachu jumped towards Apocallymon, but was sent flying into the wall with a backhand from one of the Emperor's chain-hands.

Brock reached for his Pokeballs, but was slammed into unconsciousness by another of Apocallymon's extended chain-hands before he could do anything.

xxx

Togetic had Teleported them into a dark room, where the only forms of illumination were the faint light from several computer monitors and liquid-filled tanks containing a large sphere each, suspended in a viscous yellow fluid. Misty couldn't help but be reminded of the tanks of formaldehyde she had seen in the Pewter City Museum of Natural History, where numerous Pokemon cadavers had been displayed in the embalming fluid, their bodies cut-open and their innards splayed-out for show. The room was silent save for a soft humming, and the occasional sound of something bubbling.

"Hello?" she called into the dark room timidly, feeling foolish, "Professor Gennai?"

The lights flashed on suddenly, nearly blinding her in their abruptness. With a yelp, she threw an arm over her eyes, and Togetic squealed frantically as the light dazzled it. A short man in a laboratory coat and goggles, looking very much like the other two Professors, cocked his head to side in curiosity as he spotted them. He had been just ten feet away from them, but the room's darkness had concealed his presence from their eyes.

"I am Professor Gennai," he said in a polite voice, "May I enquire as to who you are? And of course, the reason why I shouldn't call security in on you right now."

As her eyesight adjusted to the bright light, Misty saw that Gennai's right hand was poised in position above a small red button with the word 'SECURITY' printed neatly adjacent to it. Gennai raised an eyebrow, and shook his head.

"Seeing as you appear to be mute, I have no choice," he said, and Misty found her voice just in time.

"Wait!" his finger was now mere millimeters away from calling in the security forces, "Is Overlord GAIA here?"

Gennai jumped out of his seat, "How do you know about GAIA?! It's an Apex-level, top-secret project!"

Misty sighed, and began her explanation. As she laid the sequence of future events out before him, Gennai grew steadily more horrified, if his facial expressions were anything to go by. When she reached the part about the burning of Earth's continents, Gennai held up a hand, indicating that she was to stop speaking. His hadn was shaking slightly, and his face was locked in a fearful expression, obvious even with his eyes covered by the dark goggles he was wearing.

"I've heard enough..." he whispered, mopping some beads of sweat off his brow with a handkerchief, "GAIA was _their_ project... I was just an assistant engineer... Oh, Gods! What have I done?!"

"It isn't your fault!" shouted Misty, "You just said it; it was _their_ project-"

"_I_ was the one who added the sentience programming to Overlord GAIA," snapped Gennai, his voice unsteady, "We couldn't fix some of the bugs in the initial coding, so I threw some sentience programming into the mix. It cleared-up the bugs, but-"

"You've launched the program?!" exclaimed Misty, as fear blossomed inside her like a flower of liquid nitrogen.

"No, thank goodness," replied Gennai, slumping down in a nearby computer chair, "You see, all bug-clearing was done by subsidiary programs that checked Overlord GAIA's coding for errors. The sentience programming merely allowed GAIA to in a way, work with the the subsidiary programs to help show where the bugs were even if it wasn't running yet. But I never thought that it would turn out this way... It contradicts the main program's hard-wired orders!"

"What orders?"

"Have you seen many living things around this world?" asked Gennai, to which Misty shook her head, "Several decades ago, a war happened on this world. Biological and chemical warfare, to be specific. Billions died, and those that were left couldn't reproduce due to weaponized bacteria that had been unleashed during the fighting. So, twenty years ago, Professors Edriss and Esplin decided to try and make a computer program that could synthesize... Life..."

"You wanted to make a program that could create _humans_?" asked Misty, her eyes the size of dinner plates.

"Well, yes," shrugged Gennai, "All the humans left on this world are sterile, and in stasis until we can find a solution. Our work has made great progress, though. Ten years ago, we managed to produce fertile germs in this very laboratory, in one of those tanks," he gestured towards one of the liquid-filled tanks with the spheres in them, "Five years ago, fertile plants, insects, reptiles, fish, and birds. Last year..." he paused, catching his breath, "Fertile mammals."

"So..." Misty gawked at the tanks in shock, "Will you erase GAIA?"

"Based on what you've told me..." Gennai's voice trailed-off, "Yes."

"YAY!" Misty cheered, and Togetic hugged her - he didn't know what for, but he hugged her nonetheless, "Can you do it now? Time is running out for us..."

"Let me get some things running first," the Professor responded, as he flicked several switches on the control panel in front of him, "Initializing deletion... What the hell?!"

"What's going on?" Misty asked, feeling the familiar tingling sensation associated with bad luck, "What's wrong?"

"I've been locked out of the mainframe," said Gennai, staring at the screen in disbelief, "It says here that I'm no longer authorized to access GAIA's files."

"We saw to that, Gennai," came a familiar voice from behind them, "Couldn't have you messing around with our grandest experiment ever, could we now?"

"Esplin! Edriss!" Gennai yelped, "You must be mad! GAIA will-"

"Show us it TRUE potential," Professor Esplin finished his sentence for him smugly, "Given your lack of vision, how dare you call yourself a man of Science?!"

"Coward!" jeered Professor Edriss, as she appeared out of the doorway, to stand beside her male co-worker.

"There is a fine line between cowardice and sanity!" retorted Gennai, as he backed-up against the control panel. Behind his back, Misty saw him taking a remote out from beneath the control panel, where it had been hidden in a small holding socket.

"A line which is never too fine for us to run on," spat Esplin.

"Such a shame that you betrayed us, Gennai," Edriss shook her head sadly, "You've missed out on the chance to get your name down in history-"

"There will BE no history if you fools go on with this!" Gennai snapped, now holding the remote in his fist. Misty saw a large red button with the word 'ABORT' printed on its surface, "So let me into the mainframe!"

"Guard, get him!" bellowed Esplin, his face contorted with rage, "Professor Gennai is under arrest for treason!"

"Treason?!" was all Gennai managed to yell, before one of the mantis-like security robots dropped down on him from the ceiling, and sliced his torso open with a single swipe of its wicked blades.

The security robot then leaped off the fallen man, whose laboratory coat was now colored in ever-darkening pink. The remote fell from his hand, and landed on the floor near Misty's feet. She reflexively bent down and grabbed it, and heard Togetic let out an angry chirrup as she did so. She looked up, and saw that Togetic was using its Psychic attack to dismantle the security robot, piece-by-piece.

"Togeto tic togetic!" hissed the Pokemon, as it rended the machine into pieces using its mental powers.

"Alright, Togetic!" Misty turned to glare at the two mad scientists standing before her, "Lets end this horror story, _right now_!"

"STOP!" screeched Edriss, even as Esplin ran towards Misty, only to be sent flying into a computer terminal by Togetic's Metronome attack.

"No way, jose!"

Misty pressed the 'ABORT' button, and all the screens in the room lit-up with one phrase:

_COMMENCING DELETION OF 'OVERLORD GAIA' CODING._

The room was suddenly plunged into darkness, as Misty heard the vanishing screams of Professor Edriss.


	20. Zero

**Author's Note: **Thank you to all that have been following this story as I went along - it's been in progress for nearly three years, LOL! I just want to thank you all again for your readership, and let you know one thing - despite the title, this isn't the last chapter of the story. As for how many more are along the way... That's for me to know, and for you to find out once they're up, hahaha. I can guarantee you, however, that we are coming to the end soon.

So, on with the story.

* * *

**Zero**

It had been minutes since she pressed the red button. To be specific, the red button that would erase all traces of Overlord GAIA, the computer program which, despite being originally intended to create life, had ended up creating monstrosities that _destroyed_ countless lives thanks to its rebellion against its masters. But now, here she was, seemingly trapped alone in a dark area, floating in what felt like an ocean of black silk as the mysterious substance flowed all around her, gently caressing her as she stayed suspended in its midst for what seemed like an eternity.

May... Ash... Brock... Sabrina... Gary... Tracey... So many others...

They had all been banking on her and May to fix things by going back in time, but something must have gone wrong - otherwise, she figured she wouldn't be all alone in this dark space.

_'Did I end up destroying everything by accident?' _she wondered to herself, her thoughts echoing within the silence that surrounded her, _'What is this place? When can I go home?'_

"Soon enough, child," said a gentle voice, in answer to her mental query, "All has been righted, and balance has been restored between the Light and the Dark."

"Who's there?!" she squeaked fearfully, "Show yourself!"

"It is I," said the voice, sounding slightly miffed, "Don't you recall my voice?"

Misty puzzled over it for a second, then shook her head, feeling foolish - who was she shaking her head for?

"Sorry, I don't remember who you are, or if I even know you..."

"Very well then. I shall show my corporeal form to you, child."

For a brief moment, the darkness around her was lifted, and she saw a realm of gray that was without horizon, stretching out further than her eyes could fathom in all directions. Then, the realm of gray was illuminated by a bright light, which eventually faded, leaving her back in darkness.

Only this time, she was not alone in the darkness.

Several feet away from her, a diminutive being was standing suspended in the dark. It radiated a faint glow, which was what allowed her to discern its corporeal presence there in the first place. The creature looked at her with its large green eyes, and raised a vine-like hand, as if beckoning to her. At last, she recognized the identity of the being which had brought her here, or at the very least, had come to tell her that she would be stuck here for all of eternity.

"I am the Time-Guardian," said the creature, in a voice not unlike the sound of leaves rustling in a breeze, "Humans know me in this form, as the Pokemon named... Selebi."

"Selebi..." whispered Misty, feeling awestruck, "You came... I mean, Sabrina said you were approaching our time, but-"

"Indeed I was," nodded Selebi, waving one of its stubby hands dismissively, "When Time's balance is threatened, it is my duty and obligation to try and remedy the situation before things escalated beyond my control."

"Couldn't you just undo Time?"

"I shall show you Time as I know it, and you shall understand the rules that govern my actions."

Once again, the room flared into brightness, and returned to darkness. However, this time, the darkness was broken by what looked like a sphere of multichromatic light that surrounded the two of them. The colors in the sphere rippled and moved, as the sphere expanded, eventually revealing itself to be a complex stucture of interwoven light strands. Misty was awestruck, as she took in the sight before her. But Selebi wasn't done yet. More strands of light burst out of the sphere's surface, and shot outwards in all directions. The multicolored strands twisted, turned, and fused, forming intricate patterns that never were alike in two locations.

Selebi made a sweeping gesture towards the constantly-shifting morass of light, "This is Time, in its most simple form, and despite its apparent massiveness, this is but the tiniest fraction of Time. Each soul that would make a difference in Time is a strand, and the intersections between the strands is where several of those souls interact. You see, Time is like a great tapestry that never is quite completed. Its patterns and strands are constantly shifting about, as balance is sought."

"So you mean that people who don't go anywhere in their lives will not affect Time?"

Selebi nodded, as it made a moving action with its fingers, summoning a large bundle of Time-strands to be separated from the rest and brought up close to them, for closer observation, "This is what the Time-strands for Earth's significant souls looks like now. Can you see the many other strands leading away from this bundle?"

Misty squinted, and spotted them with some difficulty. They might have been faint, but they were certainly there - hundreds of miniscule, thread-like strands that led back into the colossal web of strands that surrounded them.

Seeing Misty's nod, Selebi spoke, "And this simulation is to show you what would have happened when the Digimon's Time-strands wove their way into those of Earth, and if they hadn't been stopped."

At first, she saw no visible changes. But Selebi pointed behind her, and what she saw as she turned her back was a horrifying sight indeed.

A massive bunch of interwoven strands, all scarlet in color, moved in snake-like undulating patterns through the Time web around them. Every other strand touched by the Digimons' coiled-up and went dark, leaving only a few token strands that connected to the Digimons' ever-growing behemoth. Within minutes of the simulation, a space nearly the area of a tennis court had been darkened in the mass of Time around them, not to mention the gaping holes here and there.

Finally, the scarlet strand, which had been sluggishly moving all this while, collided with the dense bundle of strands that was Earth's. Earth's entire bundle of strands went dark, collapsing in on itself like a supernova forming a black hole. The Digimon strands then started accelerating their movement, and within the next few minutes, nearly every single strand around them had been darkened, save for a few miserable strands. Even those faded into nothing after a while, and yet, the voracious Digimon strands moved even faster, its leading end ultimately surging out of sight.

Now, all that was left around them was a grossly-convoluted, bloated version of the scarlet Digimon strand. It looked like a mad artist's rendition of human entrails that filled the darkness.

Selebi broke Misty out of her stunned silence, "Humans were the turning point of the Digimon's genocide. After they had taken Earth, they would have moved on to all the other worlds linked to Earth in Time; four-hundred-and-forty-four more worlds to be painted with blood. Then, they would discover the gateway to another galaxy, and resume their butchery there. And all this would take place in no more than eighty years from when they first destroyed Earth."

"So, child. Now you should understand," said Selebi, as the simulated Time strands vanished - except for one. It came closer, and hovered in between them, its leading end swelling like the bulb of a thermometer, "This is the strand of your friend May."

"Why are you showing this to me?" Misty asked, bewildered, "Where is everyone else, anyway? _Why am I stuck here?_"

"Patience," replied Selebi, as it blinked slowly, "And this is the Digimon's Time-strand, nearly three centuries before your time."

It gazed meaningfully at Misty, "It was the Time of the DigiDestined." The strand was still the same scarlet strand, but instead of darkening Earth's bundle of strands, it made a U-turn, after several small strands from Earth's Time reached out and pushed it away. Soon, those little strands were all entwined, but when a single, almost invisible Digimon strand returned and touched them, they all coiled into darkness.

"Who were they?" asked Misty, her voice breaking up as she recalled Professor Oak's gruesome death after he refused to reveal what he knew about the DigiDestined when interrogated by Datamon, "Weren't they kids like us?"

She broke down into sobs, wondering why they had been thrown into this mess in the first place. Kids weren't meant to be in wars. Heck, wars weren't meant to be, either! Selebi floated up to her, and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. The pixie-like Pokemon placed its other hand on her head, stroking her hair much like her long-dead mother once did.

"It's alright, child," soothed Selebi, "Your sorrow is not unreasonable-"

"DAMN STRAIGHT IT ISN'T!" Misty shrieked, eyes red and face tear-streaked, "WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT SORROW, YOU TIME-TRAVELING SLACKER?! ALL YOU DO IS FOOL ABOUT WITH TIME AND LIVES, NOT GIVING A DAMN WHO YOU MESS WITH!"

Selebi's head drooped, and it placed both its hands on Misty's cheeks, wiping her tears, "Look at me in the eye, Misty."

Reluctantly, Misty looked at Selebi's forest-green eyes, and saw a profound sadness there. Selebi sighed, and averted its gaze from hers.

"I have shown you Time as it mattered to you and your homeworld," said the Time-Guardian, a note of sadness in its voice, "And I thought you would have understood... That I cannot interfere with Time directly without bringing about disastrous consequences."

"Why not?" Misty asked, uncomprehending.

"Even if I twist and break just _one_ strand," explained Selebi, "The resulting domino effect would have probably destroyed much more than fate would have intended it to be. It is Time's way of making sure that no one, not even Time-Guardians, tampered with Time freely."

"What about when Clockmon brought us back in Time? Or when he reversed Time in the battle with May?"

"He didn't break any strands or twist them," answered Selebi, "He merely undid them a little, and to be honest, I have no precise idea how Clockmon's powers of Time worked - he might have been playing under a different set of rules?"

"So it's all just a _game _to you all-powerful Time-Guardians?" Misty's voice was rising again.

"A game I am forced to play. A game where I am forced to watch, forced to be unresponsive, forced to not take action. I are not allowed to sever strands just like that, or form strands as I please. If a world is to survive a tempest in Time, it has to form its own defenses. I. Am. Helpless."

"So then..." Misty paused, "You haven't answered my original question; why am I here? Why isn't everything back to normal?"

Selebi looked at her, and once again, she saw that sadness in its eyes, "You are here child, because everything will _not_ be back to normal."

"What do you mean?"

Selebi motioned towards the DigiDestined's darkened strands, "You see the Digimon strand here?"

"Yes..."

"Here it is again, seventeen years before your time."

The scarlet strand was now about three feet away from Earth's Time. But something had changed - a single, golden strand had branched out of Earth's Time, and was poised for a head-on strike with the Digimon strand.

"Earth did prepare her own defenses for the next time the Digimon came. She was also a child, like the DigiDestined."

An uncomfortable feeling emerged in Misty's gut, as she somehow knew Selebi's answer before it spoke to her.

The Time-Guardian sighed, "Her name was May."

Misty felt like a ton of rocks had been forced down her throat and piled onto her back for her to hold. How could this happen?!

"The defensive strand did well, considering its circumstances," continued Selebi, "But when you used Clockmon to help rectify the problem, things got complicated..."

This time, the entire Digimon strand returned, as did the web of Time that showed its death-lined course of motion.

"When you erased Overlord GAIA, all traces of the Digimon's existence were destroyed. Edriss and Esplin died before they could resurrect the program, and so did the people of their world who were in stasis."

A bundle of scarlet strands came close to Misty, showing itself to be the root of the Digimon strand. The entire thing vanished into darkness, and eventually, the Digimon strand too started to disappear, from the root onwards.

"No..." Misty whispered, finally understanding what Selebi had been hinting at.

"Yes, my child," said Selebi solemnly, "With the Digimon threat removed permanently, Earth never had to form its defenses against their attack. So May... Simply ceased to exist."

The strands now showed May's strand, once again, preparing to head-off the Digimons'. In front of Misty's eyes, it began to coil up on itself, and fade into darkness.

As it disappeared, a ghostly image of May materialized in front of Misty, who was on the verge of tears. The specter hugged her, feeling surprisingly solid for a 'spirit'.

"Don't be sad for me, Misty," May said, her voice hiding her emotions well, "I'm glad that I made a difference... Selebi explained everything to me... Before I was undone..."

May hugged the specter back, sobbing and in too much grief to speak coherently.

"There, there..." May comforted Misty, patting her back slowly even as she sobbed onto a ghostly shoulder, "I hope we'll meet again someday... But if I had to do this again, I would."

Misty sniffed a little, looking into May's eyes, "Why?"

"Because," May answered softly, looking downwards, "It would have kept Earth, and as a result, Ash, safe."

"May..."

"Just do one thing for me, Misty," said May, as she took Misty's hands in hers, "Tell Ash... Tell him that I love him. Tell him that I am glad to have existed, just to have felt his love, for however short a time we were together..."

A single silvery tear rolled down May's cheek, "Tell him to remember me..."

May's image started to vanish, and Misty tried to grab it, and hold onto her to prevent her from leaving. But the undone human girl's specter gradually vanished, and soon, her arms were wrapped around emptiness.

Selebi could only watch in pity, as Misty fell to her knees and burst into anguished tears in front of it.

xxx

Time was undone, and on two worlds, many things were changing...

xxx

Tracey, Gary, and those who had survived the Cloak's explosion watched in wonder, as a rain of glittering lights descended from the heavens and lit-up the night sky, falling towards the battle-worn ground that they were standing on. The fairy-lights soon touched the ground, and where there had been soil stripped bare by the Digimon's onslaught, grass and trees materialized. As even more lights appeared, the portal to the Digimon world closed, and in the far distance, buildings could be seen reappearing, as though the Digimon had never touched them.

Even people were appearing here and there - people who had died during the ferocious fights with the Digimon. Soon, they were gazing around in wonder, questioning whatever Gods they believed in as to how they had gotten to wherever they were now.

Gary placed a hand on Tracey's shoulder, and spoke quietly to the taller man.

"It's over."

xxx

Ash felt a sudden halt in Apocallymon's torture, and cracked a bruised eye open to see what the situation was now...

... Only to see innumerable fairy-lights falling through the hole in Apocallymon's chambers' blasted ceiling. Persiamon was looking around in confusion, only to fall on the ground, her body twisting and contorting as she became translucent, then finally vanished.

Apocallymon was staring wide-eyed at the fairy-lights. He seemed to be visibly shaken, even as he spoke in a trembling tone.

"It can't be..." he croaked, "Time..."

He too, jerked with convulsions as Time undid itself around him, and as he slowly vanished. When he vanished, the fairy-lights fell faster and in greater volume, until they filled the air, reducing visibility to zero.

Ash felt a curious, floating sensation, as he was engulfed by the light. He faded into darkness...

xxx

Brock let out a groan, and sat up from where he was lying. What struck him first was that something was not right.

Since when did Apocallymon's office have trees in it?! And... wasn't that Ash's house, right over there?! A quick glance around him confirmed it - he was in Pallet Town, and from the numerous people wandering around, he wasn't alone.

It was then that he spotted Ash and Pikachu, sprawled out on the porch of Professor Oak's home.

xxx

"Wake up, Ash! Wake up!"

Ash opened his eyes, saw nothing but a mass of blurry shapes. It was then that his woozy mind matched the voice he heard to someone he knew. It was Brock's voice. He tried to sit up, and instead fell back onto his back like a boneless creature.

"Prop him up on the cushions, Brock. He'll be disoriented, I should think."

Professor Oak's voice... But he was dead, wasn't he? Eaten by that disgusting Digimon...

Professor Oak?! His mind suddenly clicked into place as to why he was hearing the supposedly dead Professor's voice.

_Misty and May had made it! They had come through for everyone else!_

He felt someone lifting up his torso, and stuffing what felt like cushions behind him. As he looked around dizzily, he saw five blurs close to him and one next to him, which his sluggish mind slowly identified.

_Brock, Professor Oak, Mom, Gary, Tracey, and Pikachu._

"Uh..."

"Get him some water, Sam. I think he's coming 'round!"

"Here you go, Ash," said the blur that was undeniably Professor Oak.

He sipped some as the glass was put to his lips, and felt the cool liquid flow down his throat like a magical elixir. Within seconds, his sight was clearing up, and he could think straight.

"Is..." he struggled to string his words together, "Is May here?"

"No, but Misty is here, asleep..." said Brock, his voice trailing-off into silence, as he pointed towards the master bedroom.

"Then is May back home? Her home should have been restored, right?"

"Ash..." Deliah Ketchum said, her voice unmistakably teetering on the brink of tears, "May... Is Gone..."

"WHAT?" despite his grogginess, he managed to yell out that one word, "HOW COULD SHE-"

"When Time was undone," said Professor Oak, a noticeable tremor in his voice, "So was her existence-"

He never finished his sentence, as Ash let out a wail of despair. The raven-haired teen was soon crying his heart out, and soon, all who were present were crying by his side, as they mourned May's passing.

For May had never existed, because she had done what was necessary to save the people that she loved.

So they all cried, until they just couldn't produce any more tears.

Not one drop.


	21. Epilogue: To Far Away Times

**Epilogue: To Far Away Times**

_Fifteen years after the Digimon War..._

It was raining cats and dogs in Pallet Town. Brilliant flashes of lightning lit up the ashen sky, and booming thunder erupted through the sound of water falling from the heavens.

Despite the drenching torrents, six people still stood standing outdoors, getting soaked to the bone by the relentless rain.

They stood at the side of a freshly-filled grave, watching the falling rain tamp down the newly-turned soil. Soon, the soil was firmed down completely, holding securely beneath its six-foot depth, the coffin of the Digimon War's latest casualty.

The two women present there were crying into the shoulders of the men they had come to the funeral with, who were also unashamedly shedding tears of their own. At that moment, it felt like the very heavens had started to mourn for the one soul they had lost, through the raging thunderstorm.

It was a long time before they all finally composed themselves, and went home.

_Thirty years after the Digimon War..._

Life went on as usual, for most of those who never could recall what happened during the Digimon War. History books never mentioned the horrifying events that had transpired, and those who did try and make known the events of the War received awards for the 'novels' that they had written. All of them declined the awards, claiming that their 'stories' were true.

Obviously, no one believed them.

For some unknown reason, almost all of the people involved in the War had no recollection of that gruesome episode that never-really-happened in Earth's History. Those who did remember the War - seven of them, to be exact - had their theories, but yet, they had no idea as to whether their memories were fake.

But when they remembered a simple human girl, and her pseudo-existence, everything seemed so real.

Even then, as time went by, they all started to forget her name, one-by-one. Their memories of the Digimon War too soon became faded, much like old photographs in a dusty album, sequestered away in a forgotten box, in a gloomy attic.

Three of the seven people died eventually, of natural causes, before they forgot about their traumatic experiences. Some said that the woman who died actually passed away due to a broken heart, and that her male companion's death which preceded hers, was merely due to old age. The earliest of the three deaths was blamed on chronic depression, and nothing more than that.

In the end, only one of them still knew who she was, and that the Digimon War did indeed happen some thirty years ago. And of course, she knew exactly why only she recalled the sorrowful events of that era.

The other three... Had forgotten...

_Fifty-nine years after the Digimon War..._

The sun was shining, and the birds were chirping. The day's weather sounded like a scene out of a child's picture book, and indeed, the day was your average Dick-and-Jane book type of day.

But then again, 'perfect' days never had funerals in them.

A coffin was lowered into the ground, by two strong Machokes. A large crowd had gathered for the funeral, and many of them could be seen sobbing or crying quietly in the background, as the minister read out the rites for the recently-deceased. The eulogy was offered by a middle-aged man who had known the deceased and her family for years, and yet, he managed to sound as though he never really knew the woman who was now being buried under six feet of earth.

After a while, the funeral ended, and those present there got up to leave. After all, no one in their right mind stuck around too long at funerals, wasn't it?

An hour later, after even the minister had left, only three people were left in the graveyard. They were the man who had offered the eulogy, and the two daughters of the dead woman.

The man came up to the eldest daughter, and reached inside his coat, "Your mother left this with me. She said..." his voice cracked with emotion, "She said that it was yours once she had passed on."

With a nod, the older of the two women standing there took the neatly-wrapped package with some tears and thankful words. Then, the two sisters watched as their longtime family friend got into his car and departed, leaving them alone in the graveyard.

xxx

It was hours later, and after dark, when the older sister finally sat down in the study room of her home, and unwrapped the package. She gently peeled-off the brown wrapping paper, and with a muffled THUMP, a small, leather-bound book fell onto her desk.

Opening the book, she saw some words written on the title page, in small, spidery handwriting that she recognized as her late mother's.

_For Aurora. Keep this book always, and never lose faith in the power of dreams. Your mother, Misty Slate nee Waterflower._

Tears welled up in her eyes, as she realized why her mother hadn't bequeathed this book to her younger sister as well. Her younger sister, Jade, had never been one to believe their mother's ramblings about the 'Digimon War' or other nonsense like that. While she as the elder child had listened attentively and with genuine interest to her mother's stories, her sister had always found some excuse to _not_ hear the stories, instead prefering to go and play with her friends.

Aurora brushed away the tears that had escaped her eyes, and opened the book to its first page.

With a sigh, she began to read.

xxx

Hours later, when dawn's first light shone through her study window, Aurora was fast asleep on her late mother's journal.

She had fallen asleep on the last pages in the book, and the words that ended the manuscript echoed in her slumbering mind.

_I never expected things to end like this, but they have._

_It's been fifteen years since the War was undone._

_Today, the six of us who still remembered its horrors attended Ash's funeral. Watching his coffin being placed into the grave, I reflected that maybe death was the best thing that had happened to him since May left this world..._

_He never really recovered from the undoing of her existence, and when Pikachu passed away just last year, life must have been like a living hell for him. So just maybe, it was a good thing that the gods have granted him his rest._

_I hope that wherever he is, he is with May and Pikachu. I think that in his final days, that's all he ever wanted..._

_---_

_It's been thirty years now, since the War passed._

_No one seems to remember what happened, and even Professor Oak and Ash's mother, Deliah, have passed on. Why isn't everyone remembering all that we went through?_

_Maybe it's something to do with me meeting Selebi, but I'll never know for sure...  
_

_---_

_Looks like I'm the last surviving person who once recalled the Digimon War - Tracey passed away yesterday. Carrying the memories of that dark period is a heavy burden, what more when no one else aside from me remembers anything about it...  
_

_Now, all I can do is hope that when my time comes to leave this world, I'll be reunited with everyone, and that they'll remember._

_I hope._

**END**


End file.
